stories for bed

Stories for bed (lay down your head)

By: the ADHD Accountant – Krid

What is your bed time ritual? As you can imagine, having ADHD does not always lend itself to going to sleep. Having a well of energy is great. Having erratic sleep routine is not. And, Man cannot survive on four hours of sleep. At least I can’t. Anymore.

Harvard talks about having a bed time ritual. That was an appeal to authority. Many studies and articles rehash a lot of the same old talking points but one thing that I developed early was a visualization technique based on the advice of a behavioral therapist. This concept has been reinforced by even more studies that link brain activity as a ‘creative’ side activity and suggest that fantastical/creative visualizations are more conducive to engaging sleep.

Some of the best sleeps I have ever had were at my grandparents. I have fond memories of the two single beds set up for my sister and I. A cup of cocoa and Nana reading us bedtime stories from a book called Garbage Delights. With its colourful illustrations and fabulous tales, safe and warm in our beds, those were some of the earliest and easiest sleeps I am aware of (mother’s remember so many things – be nice to your mother).

Forty-two poems featuring artwork by Frank Newfeld of the Order of Canada, the book was published lap size. Poems by Dennis Lee, Toronto’s first Poet Laureate and an Officer of the Order of Canada, range in length and topic. Titles such as “I Eat Kids Yum Yum” and “The Coming of Teddy Bears” and “A Sasquatch from Saskatchewan” provided my sister and I a wide selection that we never got tired of.

The artistry is not singular in style. There is a range of styles and illustration that vary from monochromatic line drawings to fully illustrated panels, like the cover. They touch on the life and imagination of a child with bath time and chores, fables and monsters. Some are relatable to daily life, and some are out of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. One even has a pizza and a shark; what whimsy, indeed!

The poems talk about fears, and dreams, the past, the future, hopes, desires, frustrations, lions and tigers and bears and bugs, oh my! Tongue twisters and rhymes tell us about monsters and angels and ourselves.

The poems aided by the artistry, including the titular Garbage Delight, are fantastical, and silly, and weird, and lend themselves to the imagination; they blur the lines between awake and asleep. A perfect sleep aid. Routine, visualization, security. That book was in that guestroom for almost 20 years. Grandparents, parents, children, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews.

I think it says something about a book that you can buy, still, for almost 45 years. I think it says something about the power of love, about family, that to this day I have fond memories of those quiet evenings. And, that it has compelled me to share it.

I have shared it with my niece and nephew; grateful that I could replace it as the tattered copy, beloved from days of yesteryear, has since moldered in boxes languishing in storage. Lost, if not forgotten.

And at the end, the very end, the last part of the last poem, the very last line encapsulates in many ways a childish delight, that’s really garbage and really alright. It talks about a secret song. A magical song. A song that’s your own and makes you happy and just works.

I hope that you have a bedtime routine. I hope you have security. I hope you have someone who loves you. I hope that you have a good book to read and are able to slip into a restful slumber each and every night. And, if you don’t have that good book to lull you, or if you are looking for a new one, let me suggest to you, a book tried and true, that’s not too old, and not too new; may garbage delight you, too!

<< END SONG: TAMMY WYNETTE - BEDTIME STORY >>