All Friends of the Foundation Posts

23 March 2026

Helping Your Child Get a Good Night’s Sleep

Have you ever heard the term ‘night clearing’?

When you lie in bed with racing thoughts, your sympathetic nervous system can stay activated, keeping you in a state of alertness that makes it hard to fall asleep.

Mind-clearing techniques work by intentionally reducing cognitive arousal and signalling to the brain that it is safe to power down. When you practise effective night clearing, you are giving your thoughts somewhere to go instead of letting them bounce around in your mind.

Night clearing is just as important for children as it is for adults.

A good night’s sleep is crucial for a child’s physical growth, immune system, and cognitive development. Preschool children should be getting 10–13 hours of sleep each night, while primary school-aged children should be getting 9–11 hours. Adequate sleep improves concentration, memory, emotional regulation, and behaviour, while also helping to reduce irritability, mental health challenges, and the risk of obesity.

You can help your child get a good night’s sleep by:

  • giving them a warm bath before bed
  • turning off screens at least an hour before bedtime
  • reading a book together or talking about your day
  • playing soothing bedtime music

There are also many free bedtime apps available that can help create a calm sleep routine.

Here at The Magic Coat, we have created a ‘Night Clearing’ pillowcase. It features all The Magic Coat characters and includes a secret pocket. Encourage your child to write down or draw the worries and thoughts they cannot seem to get out of their head, then place them in the secret pocket.

Once those worries are out of their head, it can be much easier for them to relax and fall asleep.

While your child is sleeping, you can take out their worries and read them so you can better understand what they are thinking about. The next day, make time to talk through each worry with your child without screens or interruptions. You can then use The Magic Coat book as a reference guide to help encourage strategies your child can use.

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