Do you dream about your kids?

[XanaduMama]

I was in the shower this morning, thinking about a crazy dream I had last night (it involved going to Libya, among other things...), and it occurred to me that I almost never dream about my children. I might have had one or two in the 5.5 years since ds was born, but almost none--if not none! This seems surprising and strange to me, given how much time and emotional energy I spend on them during waking hours: being with them, thinking about them, just focusing on them, kwim?

I'm not sure why this might be--Freud says that dreams are unconscious wish fulfillments, so maybe I'm unconsciously wishing to be childless again ....

So what about you? Do you dream about your kids?

[CatsCradle]

This is how I personally view it, so there's probably no science behind it, but I think that dreams are born out of suppressed thoughts.  Things that you ignore or suppress or push way down in your mind for whatever reason. I think too that the mind is a fantastic place which can manufacture images from various sources.  I hardly ever dream about DD, DH or work.  I hardly ever dream about events occurring in our apartment or places that I frequent.

I do dream a lot about deceased people (like my beloved grandmother), strange looking animals, bizarre landscapes.  I'm often fighting, running, swimming, jumping. 

I don't think I dream often of DD because she is ever present and my waking thoughts are always occupied by her.  I think once your mind starts to relax as you drift into sleep, the images and memories emerge.  I would guess that once DD is grown up and out in the world, I'll start to dream about her!

[Subhuti]

No, I don't dream about my kids or husband much at all.  I tend to dream about people that are important to me, but I have less contact with.  

[kittyhead]

i dreamt about my kids last night.  we were at mavericks beach (where they have the surf contest)  and all of a sudden everybody gasped and the ocean rolled back about 20 yards and i screamed for the person i was with to grab the baby and run and they (im not sure who it was) either couldnt hear me or didnt understand.  i ran, snatched up the baby, grabbed my four year olds arm, and bolted up the beach and climbed the cliffs before a giant wave could come and wipe us all out.  i saved them!  i even saved the dog by having him follow us. 

then i woke up, before the wave even went back out to sea.  it was pretty stressful, and im glad to be awake and drinking coffee instead of at the beach.

[bignerpie]

I've only ever had dreams about my kids before and during pregnancy. I don't think I've ever had a dream about my son since he was born! Maybe it's because I spend 99.9% of my time with him, so dreaming is my way of escaping, too.

My husband is in almost all of my dreams, though. Maybe because we don't get to spend much time together?

[aparent]

   I don't recall having dreams about my children.. at night.

During the day I try to spend a considerable amount of

time "dreaming" about what I'd like them and their world

to be like; it helps me parent during the day having that

long term view.

[Lisa85]

Almost never, except when pregnant.  I never realized it until I read the title though.  It is kinda strange, but I guess it makes sense because they are the biggest part of my life right now.  I almost always dream about myself, sometimes with other people and sometimes just me.  Maybe that's my hidden conceded side appearing?

[sweetpeppers]

I rarely dream About him, but I am almost always aware that I have a child. When I do dream about him, it's usually that I've lost him or left him somewhere. lol. He is rarely ever a character in the dream doing things. And when I dream about college it's that there was this one class I didn't go to all semester, and I must have failed it, and not I'm not going to graduate.

[lindberg99]

Originally Posted by sweetpeppers 

I rarely dream About him, but I am almost always aware that I have a child. When I do dream about him, it's usually that I've lost him or left him somewhere. lol. He is rarely ever a character in the dream doing things. And when I dream about college it's that there was this one class I didn't go to all semester, and I must have failed it, and not I'm not going to graduate.

That's the same for me. Then I will wake up and my heart is pounding and I have to stop and think where all the kids are.

I also have similar dreams about college except for me, it is always that I'm teaching a class and forgot to prepare anything!! I do teach, but online. I never dream about that. Only about being in the classroom, which I haven't done for years.

[XanaduMama]

Lol! I am a professor and still occasionally have the teaching-anxiety dreams (can't find the classroom...didn't prepare anything...didn't know I was teaching until that morning...). Surprising I never have parenting-anxiety dreams (though perhaps the teaching dreams are really allegories for something else...)

My dh dreamed the other night that all his teeth fell out (classic anxiety dream) and he had to get dentures. An unusually jovial and cheerful Roy Williams was the dentist (we're Duke fans, so that's a REAL anxiety dream!)