The Lighter Side

Our daughter will be four in July.  Since just before her third birthday, she's been afraid of the dark.
The baby monitor, which sufficed while she was still...well, a baby...is no longer doing the job.
It's one of those kind with a built-in night light, by the way.
This isn't doing the job not because it's broken, but something more simple, yet so complex.
It doesn't throw enough light.
She began to insist on sleeping with the lights on.
We ruled out the ceiling fan in her room.  There was no way she was going to get to sleep with that much light being thrown all about.
The compromise was her little lamp on the bookshelf.
I begrudgingly allowed it.
Very begrudgingly, I might add.
I can't force my daughter to sleep in total darkness.  That's just fodder for her to go on a tabloid talk show and talk about her new book that she wrote on how a cruel parent I was.
But I can do this.
Change the size of the light bulb.
I noticed that the lamp had a 40-watt incandescent bulb in it.
So I went to the store the next day and got a 25-watt bulb.
Not too bright, but not too dim, either.
And she didn't appear to notice.
After a couple months of this, I decided to take it a step further.
We went down to a 15-watt bulb.  The dimmest one I was able to find.
This is the kind you usually find in refrigerators and conventional ovens.
Now she did notice this one.
"It's not bright", she complained.
Mmmm...how does one handle this?
Then I remembered what Fred Rogers (yes, THAT Fred Rogers) had to say on the matter many years ago.  Why I remembered it at that precise moment, I'll never know.
I patiently explained to her that a light that was too bright might make it hard for her to sleep at night, and the importance of a good night's sleep.  So that we'd have enough energy to do all the things we want the next day.
"You want to play with the other kids at daycare, don't you?" I said.
She did seem to understand this, albeit with some reluctance.
So she still sleeps with the lamp on, but at 15 watts, we can live with it.
I know many adults who, even in their advancing years, still sleep with a night-light on.
There's no shame in that.
As a parent, I've learned over the past couple years that no matter how 'old school' you are, in many ways, you learn the benefits of compromise.
And the benefits of watching Mister Rogers' Neighborhood as a child.
Though he's been gone for several years now, he won't be forgotten anytime soon.
Because you never know when the spirit of Fred is nearby to help you.
But he was there with me that night.
Thanks, Fred.


NEXT WEEK:  One and Done