Bed Worms, Toe-Bites and other Mythical Imaginary Creatures!

I know many of you are wondering what in the world a Bed Worm is and why I am talking about them here. The Bed Worm is a very rare, very shy, mythical worm like creature that comes out only at night when little children are just getting ready to lay down and go to sleep. The Bed Worm is forever searching for a warm and safe place to sleep in the armpits of small and especially ticklish children. The bed worm can often be mistaken by the layman as a normal adult finger but please don’t be fooled. These illusive bed worms are very determined and a relentless in there mission. They have been known to cause serious problems just before bedtime. They have been known to cause children to laugh out loud in bed and cause them to twitch and roll about. They can cause your child to enjoy the bedtime process more than usual and will cause an increase in your child’s love for you. They often appear before prayer time while the mood is still light-hearted. Only one thing can stop the dreaded bed worm attack and that is a single kiss to the bed worm from the child being attacked. I must warn you though and I know this from experience that some smaller forms of the bed worms have been known to attack adults as they put their children to bed and that the bed worm itself can become very addictive.
Bed worms of course are not real. However they are very much real in the mind of my 4 year old son, Michael. See, I made up the bed worms to give us sort of a light hearted time of bonding before we say our prayers at bedtime. He absolutely adores the bed worms and often (every night) the smaller bed worm retaliates on me as well. I had originally gotten the idea from keeping my two small sisters growing up. See they did not like to stay in the bed when it was time for them to go to sleep. Often times it would be me watching them while both of our parents were at work. So I came up with a comical and slightly scary solution to the every night problem. The Toe-Bites were mythical creatures that would come out once big brother put his sisters to bed hoping that one of them would venture out of their bed so that it could nibble away at their toes. All you over worrying, self diagnosing, semi-professional do-gooders can rest your worrying minds. They turned out to be normal, healthy and neither of them have going to bed issues as an adult.
See, the moral of this story is one you have heard me express before just in a different way. Spend time with your children and children in general. They crave our love and attention and when they don’t get enough that is when they have problems later in life. The Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Santa Clause are all HARMLESS non existent beings that bring joy and excitement to a child’s life. Spend time with the small ones for they are our future. Love them and they will know how to love. Teach them and they will be wise. Discipline them and they will learn right from wrong. However, if you push them away, ignore them and don’t give them the love and respect they need and deserve you will regret it and so will the rest of society. Do yourself, your child and the rest of us a favor. Love your child in a way that will not only nurture them but will help mold them into loving adults. Maybe you should look into buying a bed worm or creating a new species of creature to help you and your child enjoy one another!

Matthew Hilley