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. For the first few months they sleep so much that their very own little sleep fairy comes to visit them. She strokes their head all night long and brings 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 hurries over to you and waits for you to close your eyes and relax. After that she flies closer and starts to smooth out your hair and your thoughts.
If you wake up in the morning with messy hair, it means the fairy got very 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 as if a cow had licked it. Go up and ask: "Say, did you have an interesting dream today?". I'd bet you anything — you did!
My attentive listener has been waiting for the most interesting bit. Where, oh where is the instruction for good dreams?! Alright, don't fuss. Now that you know how it all works, let's get to the main part.
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 distracts her very much 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, all the best! Would you like to sit next to someone whose breath smells of chewed-up dinner? The 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 number three: make your bed in the morning — sleep soundly at night. When you leave a crumpled duvet, little chaos creatures move in. We call them troublemakers. If you leave a mess all day, by evening it will 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.
The fourth rule is one of the most important and is called "If you smile as you fall asleep — good dreams you will reap". Preparation for sleep can be done perfectly. But if you're angry or crying, there's such a commotion in your head that no fairy can sort it out! 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 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 there that night. If the owners don't come home for the night, he'll tell the fairy in advance. And other house spirits will tell her where to find you.
Or another question: "What if we followed all the rules and still 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 about. 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 simple!
Be cheerful and bright,
To sleep through the night,
And into sweet dreams take your flight!
