Are your concerned about your children's nightmares? How does a parent tell whether a child who wakens in the middle of the night has had a bad dream or is just trying to get parental attention? If your child wakes up frightened, go to him or her. That's a parent's job.

A scream means a bad dream. A young child isn't clever enough to fake a scream. The crying or whining noises from the bedroom mean "I'm awake and bored and I want my parents to come in here and entertain me." A nightmare is a scary dream that wakes the child up. Nightmares occur when the child is in deep sleep, the stage of sleep when dreaming takes place. This means nightmares occur in the middle of the night after the child has been asleep for a while. Crying for attention happens just after the child is put to bed.

After a nightmare, the young child wakes up suddenly, begins crying for the parents or runs to find the parents. Although the child may be sleepy because it's in the middle of the night, there is no question that the child is AWAKE and SCARED.