What to Do When You Dread Your Bed, 2nd Edition

A reassuring, interactive guide to help kids feel calm, safe, and confident at bedtime

Bedtime can feel overwhelming for many children. Noises in the dark, racing thoughts, worries about being alone, or a body that just won’t settle can turn nights into a source of stress instead of rest. But bedtime doesn’t have to be scary. With the right support and tools, children can learn to calm their minds, feel safe in their beds, and fall asleep with greater ease.

This updated second edition of What to Do When You Dread Your Bed is a comforting, hands-on workbook designed to help kids understand their nighttime worries and develop healthy sleep habits. Through engaging activities, friendly illustrations, and evidence-based strategies, children are guided step by step toward feeling more in control of bedtime. A supportive section for parents and caregivers offers practical ways to reinforce skills and create a calm, reassuring nighttime routine.

Key features:

• Designed for Ages 7-11: Supports children who experience bedtime worries, nighttime fears, or difficulty settling down to sleep.
• Interactive, Child-Friendly Format: Engages kids through activities and illustrations that make coping skills approachable and empowering.
• Evidence-Based Strategies: Uses cognitive-behavioral techniques to help children manage worries and build calming bedtime routines.
• Addresses Common Sleep Challenges: Covers concerns such as fear of the dark, anxious thoughts, and reliance on caregivers at bedtime.
• Trusted, Award-Winning Resource: Part of the What-to-Do Guides for Kids series from Magination Press, the children’s imprint of the American Psychological Association.

Dawn Huebner, PhD, is a psychologist, parent coach, and the author of numerous self-help books for children. Her books have been translated into twenty-three languages, touching the lives of millions of children around the world.

Katie Saunders works with hand-drawn pen, collage, and computer-aided design. She lives with her family in Kent, UK, where she creates illustrations in a studio in her garden that her father built for her.