Get comfortable and listen to an instruction fairy tale about how dreams come to children.
When a baby arrives in a house, parents make a separate little bed for them. In the first months they sleep so much that a special little sleep fairy comes to visit them. She spends the whole night stroking their head and bringing sweet dreams.
From early childhood she remembers where her little one sleeps. And then she flies to that same place. Turning off the bright light in the room is a signal for the tiny fairy. She quickly flies to you and waits for you to close your eyes and relax. After that she comes closer and starts smoothing out your hair and thoughts.
If you wake up in the morning with messy hair, it means the fairy got really absorbed in your sleep. She sat there smoothing the same spot for hours on end, until your hair stood up like an antenna on a roof.
You'll see tomorrow on the street, for example, a boy whose hair sticks out on the side like a cow licked it. Go up and ask: "Say, did you have an interesting dream today?". We can bet you anything—he definitely did!
My attentive listener has been waiting for the most interesting bit. Where is it, where's the instruction for good dreams?! Alright, don't fuss. Now that you know how it all works, let's get to the main bit.
Many things affect how pleasant your dreams are. And the more conditions you follow, the better your dreams will be.
Rule number one: clean air makes dreams fair. You need to air out your room before sleep. If it's stuffy, the sleep fairy will sit all night thinking: "What am I supposed to breathe in here?". And that really distracts her from bringing pleasant dreams. But you absolutely must not open or close the window yourself! Your parents must do it—that's the rule. So don't do it yourself, ask the grown-ups.
Second rule: clean teeth, dreams you'll keep! Would you like to sit next to someone whose breath smells like chewed-up dinner? The little sleep fairy definitely wouldn't like that. Don't upset this little one and brush your teeth. You'll do a good thing for your health and your sleep.
Rule three: make your bed in the morning, sleep well at night without warning. When you leave your blanket all crumpled up, little chaos creatures move in. We call them troublemakers. If you leave a mess all day, by evening it'll be hard to shake them all out of bed. Definitely some troublemaker will get stuck in the duvet cover or pillowcase. And then it will distract the fairy from her useful work.
Fourth rule—one of the most important and it's called "Fall asleep with a smile, and good dreams will come in a while". Getting ready for sleep can be done perfectly. But if you're angry or crying, your head becomes such a jumble that no fairy can untangle it! So calm down, make peace, wash your face with cool water—and then go to sleep. Listen to a story, remember something funny and kind. And the dreams will come cheerful and pleasant too.
You might have had some questions. Let me try to answer them.
You might ask: "What if I'm going to sleep at someone else's house? Won't the fairy come?". And I'll tell you: "Don't worry". In every house there live many different helpers. For example, a house spirit who watches the entrance and knows whether you're staying at home that night. If the owners aren't coming home for the night, he'll let the fairy know in advance. And other house spirits will tell her where to find you.
Or another question: "What if we followed all the rules but had a bad dream?". Well, that means that child has too many restless thoughts in their head. Probably didn't listen all day, fought with someone or watched too many cartoons. The fairy tries to calm down and smooth out the memories, but they twitch and jump all over the place. So a peaceful sleep just doesn't work out.
That's all you need to know, girls and boys, about good dreams. The better you try to follow the conditions, the more pleasant your dreams will be. It's all quite simple!
Be cheerful and bright,
To sleep through the night,
And into good dreams take your flight!
