This document provides 100 ideas for helping a child who is afraid of the dark to fall asleep when their parents want to save on electricity costs. Some of the ideas include using a tablet or night light to distract the child, putting up glow-in-the-dark stickers, compromising by turning the light on and off in intervals, hypnosis, meditation, reading stories, and therapy to address the fear of darkness. The variety of suggestions range from using technology to altering sleep routines to psychological approaches.

1. 100 (almost) ideas on how to get to sleep when you are
afraid of the dark and your brother wants to turn the light off
and your parents want to save electricity.
Stanford Creativity Crash Course
Jonathan Martin, Nate Martin (10), Nick Garvin
December 4, 2012

2. 1. Give child a tablet computer to distract him from darkness.
2. Put solar panel to take in the light that’s on.
3. Sing quietly together until you fall asleep.
4. Go to bed while sun is still out.
5. Take sleeping pills
6. Put up glow in the dark stickers which glow until you fall asleep
7. Paint room bright colors
8. Compromise– 10 minutes on, 10 minutes off.
9. Start with x amount of days without light and slowly increase.
10. Offer light only after chores are all done.
11. Make sleep outside of the house in back yard– they’ll stop being scared of dark.
12. Use a clap-on light
13. Hypnosis!
14. Night vision goggles
15. Reward child with points for each night sleeping without lights on.

3. 1. Night lights that go out after a while.
2. Curtains on bunk beds.
3. Make hologrammic message to make it look like its light.
4. Make child stay up all night with lights and noise so he wants darkness/quiet as a
relief.
5. Have sibling be nicer and his reward is no light but he’ll be nice and light will stay
on.
6. Keep flashlight for interim times of light.
7. Sleep on the kitchen floor with lights on,.
8. Listen to a story on tape while you go to sleep in dark.
9. Have a reassuring teddy bear to hold on to.
10. Block light from child who wants dark.
11. Take Benadryl
12. Take soothing bath and tea before bed to calm nerves
13. Alternate nights– even days lights on, odd days lights off.
14. Wear glasses/goggles with lights on inside.
15. Clip on a tiny reading lamp on bottom of top bunk bed.

4. 1. Do calculations of computer use and light power use– work with child to give up
a # of electricity use for each 30 minutes oflight.
2. Feed kids trytophan from Turkey to make them sleepy.
3. Attach light to boom box playing terrible music– light on, awful music on.
4. Wrap up scared child in a cocoon/burrito like a baby to feel secure in dark.
5. Offer light only after dishes/room cleanup/reading as reward for chores.
6. Meditate before bed to calm nerves.
7. Have a parent sit in room with child reading on a tablet in dark
8. Move other child
9. Light a candle
10. Curtains
11. Walk around a dark neighborhood with a parent until dark isn’t scary
12. Stay up all night watching TV on alternate nights so really sleepy
13. Have son do carbon offsets activity like planting trees for lights on time.
14. Gag sibling so no complaints.
15. Get a pillow pet

5. 1. Keep oxygen out of room until kid passes out.
2. Get sleep mask for sibling
3. Put a dimmer light on a very slow timer so it gets dark gradually
4. Have brother knock you out to get to sleep
5. See scary movies about being in the dark over and over until no longer afraid of
dark
6. Immersion therapy– full darkness until no more fear.
7. Have soothing music to listen to in dark
8. Timed light- stays on until falling sleep/30 minutes
9. Read super scary books about dark until no longer scary
10. Have a night light
11. Take sleeping pills
12. Exercise a LOT, run around block, stationery bike, until so tired fall asleep quickly.
13. Read really boring books until you pass out.
14. Pod over bed that has light inside it.
15. Stars on ceiling that glow.

6. 1. Read a mystery story every night without a
solution so you think about mystery, not dark.
2. Get professional therapy for darkness fears
3. Tell them 5 hard riddles without answers before
going to bed.
4. Put TV in room.
5. Squeeze a pillow or a little cushion and a
projection of stars goes on ceiling for 15
minutes.