Trouble Sleeping

J has been having a hard time falling asleep. His bedtime is 9, but if I stay upstairs near his room, he'll ask me questions for another hour or sometimes longer. I usually tell him that we'll have to look it up in the morning.

The other night, though, I went downstairs immediately after tucking him in. 15 minutes later, he came down and asked for some ideas of how to make himself fall asleep. I told him the usual counting sheep, or singing a song, or even trying to breathe more slowly. He went back upstairs and presumably gave my suggestions a try.

The next night, he was having trouble sleeping again, and questions seemed to be coming a mile a minute. I told him that when I want to fall asleep, I try to think of absolutely nothing. He got a very distressed look on his face and said, "But I can't turn off my brain from what it's doing!"

Finally I suggested that he could say a prayer and talk to Heavenly Father, and that sometimes helps me fall asleep. He got a big smile and said, "Yeah, he likes to hear from us, because we're all his children, even grown ups!"

I didn't hear from him again that night, so I think maybe he found relief from his racing thoughts and his quest for knowledge.