I took your advice and found out that my son was worried over me because of an argument he overherd that my husband and I were having. Although his dreaming bad dreams have quit, he sleepwalks. He often walks into the kitchen or living room and just stands there eyes open in a trance. I will take his shoulders and guide him back to bed without a word. What causes this? Is he still upset do you think?

It could be genetic. Did you or his father sleepwalk as a child?

Children are very empathic. (I'm not saying telepathic as in supernatural). They seem to have the ability , especially with their mothers, to sense tension.

When my 1st marriage was falling apart my barely 1 yr old daughter was vomiting almost every day, her Ped. ran all sorts of tests and found out she had a pre-ulcerous condition. He also went to my church and knew what was going on and said it was most likely due to the stress in our household. I asked him how could a 1 yr old know what was going on. He said, she feels it off of you.

So, just because one argument was settled... Maybe his subconcious feels like if he walks into a room with the both of you, you won't fight. I'm not an expert. You might want to seek some counseling for your son, because he seems to be having a very hard time handling all the stress right now.

I agree with Michelle, and I'd also like to add that you may want to consider whether he's having night terrors. This link has some info on them:

http://parentcenter.babycenter.com/refcap/preschooler/psleep/64971.html

With night terrors, a child may end up walking or running around and while they will likely answer you and appear to be awake, they are actually sleeping. One of my sons went through this and it was heartbreaking because he was terrified. Thank goodness it didn't last long, and they did occur during the divorce.

My son also had the sleep walking. It was due to the abuse at home, I later learned. I agree with Michelle in that you may want to send him to therapy to help him with what he struggles with internally.

Hi, hopefields and welcome to Bella!

Children manifest emotions in many ways because in some stages of development, they are not capable of expressing their feelings in a way that adults will understand. During my divorce, which was quite ugly, my oldest developed night terrors, stomach aches and headaches and my youngest regressed to wetting the bed.

Keep an eye on things, but try not to make a big deal out of it either. This can cause your son to focus more on the problem and it may escalate. If professional help is needed, let the professional worry about treatment.

Just concentrate on loving your son and letting him know that he can trust and depend on you.

You know, there is someone else here at Bella that might be even better to ask this particular advice of.

Lisa Angelettie, she's the Depression editor, but if I'm not mistaken, wht she does for a living is counseling children.

You might try checking out her site:
http://www.bellaonline.com/about/Depression

This is her "about" page, that tells you about her, it lists several of her personal sites, but you can also submit a question to her from that page as well.

Wow, Thank you all for the support this forum is great! My sons father was abusive and an alcoholic, he had a very difficult confusing time through our divorce and does experience depression...I have had him to every counciler in our area and then some and they all say that he is fine and he needs not attend counciling. As he gets older he is able to talk and open up more about his troubles and things and he is becoming more of a "kid" but he does have times where I know it still bothers him.

That's what we're here for {{{hugs}}} and we love having you.

As Michelle suggested, we have lots of sites that can help with many issues. Our dreams often are a snapshot of where we are in life, so they can be a wonderful tool in dealing with those issues.