March 28, 2024

Keeping away the big, scary monkey

It took just a few months shy of four years, but we finally had our first lasting bad dream. My oldest still takes the occasional nap and when I picked her up from daycare she told me her new fear: a big, scary monkey.

I can remember when I was about her age I had a dream about a talking elephant, which frightened me when I woke up and still has lasting effects to this day. I am not a fan of cartoon elephants or stuffed elephants but the real thing is OK.

As soon as we got in the car she immediately asked me if there were any big monkeys that could get her. I told her no, there aren’t any monkeys and asked where she saw a monkey. She said when she was sleeping, but did not give any further detail about the dream. She told me the monkey was big and walked like a gorilla with big lips, which she showed me with her hands around her mouth. I felt terrible that she had a bad dream and hoped she wouldn’t hold on to it, but knowing her I would defiantly hear about it again.

When jammie time came around she brought up the scary monkey again. She asked if the monkey could get her in her bed and my husband and I assured her no monkeys could get in the house. Every night she sleep with a stuff dog named brown puppy and we told her that brown puppy would protect her and scare away any monkeys.

She seemed convinced enough as we tucked her into bed, but not long after I heard my name coming from her room and once again reassured her no monkeys could get her. We also added in that our dog, Homer, would protect her, too. If any monkeys came around he would bark and scare them away. We then crossed our fingers that the dog would keep quite and not bark at any cars driving by.

Thankfully there were no bad dreams that night, but we did hear first thing that morning that no monkeys were there. She seems to be okay during the day, when it is light out, and we are having our first fears of the dark along with her first bad dream.

As the days have gone on, we are hearing less and less about the monkey. When she asked my mom about it she told her to think of something fun, like Dora or school before she fell asleep, then she would dream about that. She really liked that advice and every night since we think of something fun before she goes to sleep.

I’m hoping it was just a one time thing with the big, scary monkey but if she does want to cuddle one night to stay safe, I’m pretty okay with that.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson
at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534
or jpierson@newtondailynews.com