by Cecilia Egan (Author), Elizabeth Alger (Illustrator)
The Kitten Who Wants To Fall Asleep
Children sometimes find it hard to get to sleep. What if you could read them a bedtime story incorporating powerful psychological methods to help them fall asleep quickly, easily and without drugs?
Psychological sleep induction techniques include: - putting aside your thoughts until the following day - breathing deeply - slowing down - visualizing a safe and peaceful place - imagining a descent with the sensation of sinking - progressive muscle relaxation - using sleep-triggering words - employing the 'infectiousness' of yawning
Such methods are well-known and can be found in libraries or by searching for 'psychological sleep techniques' on the Internet.
This book also uses the hypnotic power of rhyme and rhythm. Songs and lullabies have traditionally been used to lull children to sleep. 'Hypnotic' poetry works in much the same way.
The poems in this book are in the relaxing, calming rhythm called 3/4 time, better known as 'waltz time'. All parents know that gentle, rocking rhythms can soothe a child.
The rhyming is as important as the rhythm. Children love poems that rhyme. For them, rhyming words make poetry fun and memorable.
Just as children respond to Forssen Ehrlin's sleep-inducing story of Roger the Rabbit (the inspiration for this book), so they can fall asleep while listening to the tale of Misti the Kitty.