When you’re used to sharing your room with someone, and they move out, it can feel awful lonely in that room. And sometimes, if you’re a little boy, it can get a little scary.
When Hayden’s 15-year-older sister moved into her own room, lots of spooky thoughts started creeping into the youngster’s head. Was there a bad guy under his bed? Was there a monster in his closet?
You may think that’s just silly stuff. But try to remember back to when you were Hayden’s age. Your imagination went wild with all the horrible, scary things that it could conjure up, especially when it started getting dark.
Yeah, you remember. No different for Hayden, who just moved near Eldridge, Iowa, with his family. That’s when Hayden’s older sister got her own room. Hayden is like all 6-year-old boys. He believes in all the superheroes. But with that, he believes in all the bad guys they deal with. They are all very real to him. And it was causing him an awful lot of anxiety. Of course, it didn’t help at all that Hayden happened to see some commercials for a couple of horror movies right before bedtime one night.
His mom, Amanda, tried to convince him that it was all make-believe; movie magic. But that didn’t help at all. She also tried night lights, “monster spray,” and even let the family dog sleep with him. But none of that seemed to work either.
So, finally, Amanda took her young son to the police department in Eldridge, and she told Officer Bruce Schwartz about Hayden’s bad-guy issues. He listened to her with understanding and compassion. Then, Hayden asked the officer if he could check his house to make sure it was good and safe. He agreed, and off they went back to Hayden’s house.
Officer Schwartz checked every place he could and assured Hayden that everything was just fine and there was no threat to him at all. And then he told Hayden he should think about only good things when he’s in bed preparing to go to sleep.
Officer Schwartz told the boy that when goes to bed, he often thinks of being a cowboy and riding a horse. Well, that night Hayden tried it, and it was still a struggle. But the very next day, as the youngster was getting ready to go to his first day of school, he looked out the window and spotted Officer Schwartz pulling into the driveway. Hayden lit up.
The police officer was there to check on him and make sure he was alright. He was, telling the officer that he thought about being a cowboy himself before finally going to sleep last night.
Amanda sure appreciated the officer’s kindness toward her son. And now, SHE can sleep better at night.
