Click here to download the cover image of The Night Visitors.
About The Night Visitors
Parents often feel helpless when their little children are afraid of the dark. If you have a child who has a fear of the dark phobia, this storybook is a really helpful resource.
The book is about a little boy who is afraid of the dark. He is gently encouraged to discover for himself that the things he is afraid of, does not exist. That, it is all in his head.
As a parent, how do we explain that ‘there’s nothing there’.
Being afraid of the dark is quite common. For some reason, when the sun goes down and the lights go out, scary things start to appear. That is thanks to the creative imagination of our children. It is not fear of darkness itself, but rather of what is concealed in the dark.
Here is a little snippet out of the book. This is how he sees his house:
In the day, it seems so cute and delightful,
but when night time comes it’s truly frightful.
“The Night Visitors” acknowledges the fears of your child but gently encourages him/her to take a closer look at whatever they are afraid of.
Mama sees my face, and gets me from bed.
“Come see here dear, there’s nothing to dread.
A branch on your window is making that sound,
It’s only the wind. There’s no monsters around.”
When they are gently encouraged to face their fears, over time, they realize there really is nothing to fear.
I’m really grateful to Bailey Beougher – the illustrator. She’s really wonderful. She is amazing at capturing my words and putting them into illustrations. When I look at the images, even I feel the fear. This is important because I think that kids who are afraid, want to know that they are not alone. They feel better knowing that other kids – like the character in the book – is also afraid of the dark.
Bailey also illustrated The Brave Silly Rabbit – she did a great job there too. I will definitely be working with her again on future projects.
The Inspiration for The Night Visitors
“The Night Visitors” was created out of our own personal experiences.
My son Reily was afraid of the dark. Poor kid. I felt terrible for him. This book came out of an attempt to teach him how to not be scared of the dark
Reily is our second born son, and his brother Remy is two years older than him. When Reily felt afraid, he didn’t only need to deal with his own fear of the dark phobia, but also an older brother who was making fun of him for being afraid. (Of course, we made sure to stop that when it happened.)
I was very compassionate because I remember being afraid of the dark when I was a child.
Reily and I spoke about it many times and I quickly figured out that there were things in the house that made him feel scared. He saw things that were not there, literally. Here’s an example – his bedroom is next to the laundry, and he’d be afraid to go to his room because he’d notice “a monster” in the laundry. Turns out, the shapes in the dark looked like monsters to him.
Every night before bed, he’d come tell me what bothered him, and together we’d turn on the lights to inspect it. It didn’t take long for his fears to fade because he realized that the monsters disappeared when the lights went on. Having a night light definitely helped and I encourage you to get one as well. It tends to calm them when they can see what is out there.
Reily and I have an open relationship, and I think that was helpful because he felt comfortable enough to tell me what bothered him. I’m not a family therapist but I think that, and the fact that I acknowledged his fears, was also very helpful. If you’re in the same boat, I hope this advice helps.
