My son is now 8, but when he was 3, I was lying in his bed trying to get him to sleep and he said he fell of a boat, into the ocean and he "sinked." He went onto say, "but then I was looking from the sky and it wasn't me." At the time, we talked about it briefly, but other than that, he didn't say anything else about a boat. He once--while riding in a car when he was about four--said "Hey! That's my car!" and pointed excitedly at some hotrod type car. He was also fascinated with motorcycles and once, in a parking lot, he ran away from me and over to a parked motorcycle. Before I could stop him, he climbed up on it and when I caught up with him, he just looked at me and said, "I need the key."
But other than that, he has not shared anything else much beyond the age of three and four. Anyway, I have been thinking about his boat story lately because two weeks ago, he couldn't sleep and I decided to do my "relaxation technique" with him. I told him to relax his feet, then his knees, then his arms, head, etc. and then told him, "Okay, now you are floating, floating...you are so relaxed...like you are floating on waves in the ocean." The object was to get him to relax (he is a very excitable kid who has a hard time calming down. His mind runs a million miles an hour), but as soon as I said this, he sat up and said, "MOM. I HATE the ocean." He doesn't seem to hate the ocean when we are actually at the ocean--he loves the waves and we actually have a hard time keeping him close to us--but something about his being in this relaxed state seemed to bring something to the surface.
I let it go and we pretended he was floating on a magic carpet instead, but today, my curiousity got the best of me. I asked him if he ever dreamed about the ocean? He looked at me like I was nuts and said, "Yes." I asked him if he would tell me about it? He said he didn't want to talk about it, but I think he was curious why I'd ask, so after a few minutes, he came up to me and said, "I once had a dream where I was on a boat and a man shot me and I fell into the water." The man shooting him was an addition to the dream and I'm not sure what to make of it. It might have been an addition created by him, or maybe he now understood the concept of "shooting." I have no idea. I asked him, "Then what happened?" He got all fidgety and started being silly then, saying, "Then a big sea turtle came in and swished me away and rescued me!" (he has a passion for turtles) It seems as if his imagination takes over and fills in the blanks now with fantasy, but his underlying fear is still very real.
I feel bad that if he is still dealing with some past-life issue about falling off a boat, especially now that he's getting older and only remembers this (if that is what he is doing) as "a dream." I wished I'd researched his memories better back when he had them (ie: the kind of car he said was "his," etc.).
Just thought I'd share,
Kim
But other than that, he has not shared anything else much beyond the age of three and four. Anyway, I have been thinking about his boat story lately because two weeks ago, he couldn't sleep and I decided to do my "relaxation technique" with him. I told him to relax his feet, then his knees, then his arms, head, etc. and then told him, "Okay, now you are floating, floating...you are so relaxed...like you are floating on waves in the ocean." The object was to get him to relax (he is a very excitable kid who has a hard time calming down. His mind runs a million miles an hour), but as soon as I said this, he sat up and said, "MOM. I HATE the ocean." He doesn't seem to hate the ocean when we are actually at the ocean--he loves the waves and we actually have a hard time keeping him close to us--but something about his being in this relaxed state seemed to bring something to the surface.
I let it go and we pretended he was floating on a magic carpet instead, but today, my curiousity got the best of me. I asked him if he ever dreamed about the ocean? He looked at me like I was nuts and said, "Yes." I asked him if he would tell me about it? He said he didn't want to talk about it, but I think he was curious why I'd ask, so after a few minutes, he came up to me and said, "I once had a dream where I was on a boat and a man shot me and I fell into the water." The man shooting him was an addition to the dream and I'm not sure what to make of it. It might have been an addition created by him, or maybe he now understood the concept of "shooting." I have no idea. I asked him, "Then what happened?" He got all fidgety and started being silly then, saying, "Then a big sea turtle came in and swished me away and rescued me!" (he has a passion for turtles) It seems as if his imagination takes over and fills in the blanks now with fantasy, but his underlying fear is still very real.
I feel bad that if he is still dealing with some past-life issue about falling off a boat, especially now that he's getting older and only remembers this (if that is what he is doing) as "a dream." I wished I'd researched his memories better back when he had them (ie: the kind of car he said was "his," etc.).
Just thought I'd share,
Kim