The Sleep Book: Helping Busy Brains Settle For Sleep
“Sometimes, life is just too exciting and settling down for a peaceful night’s sleep is the last thing a busy brain is ready for.
The Sleep Book follows the story of bedtime and helps busy brains to settle down, relax and look forward to a restful, relaxing night full of wonderful dreams and magical memories.
The Sleep Book has a full set of valuable notes for parents and carers, with practical advice and real sleep science to create a DREAM sequence with techniques proven to effectively help children (and grown-ups) find a little calm and stillness as the settle down to a good night’s sleep.”
The little girl in our story is not particularly special. She has no super powers, no extraordinary story to tell. There is no big problem for her to overcome, or enemy to fight.
In all honesty, she’s a very ordinary little girl, with a very ordinary problem. She can’t sleep, because her brain is just too busy. She, like us, lives in a world where she is always on the go, and then when she goes to bed, her body may stop, but her brain tries to process all the information from the day.
I wanted to normalise that experience, for both parents and children. There's not anything particularly wrong; they are not deliberately trying to avoid going to bed, they just haven't learnt how to switch off their busy brains. The first part of the story shows some of the things that are buzzing around the little girl’s busy brain, and the second part reveals how she manages to slow down and switch off. The final section of the book offers support and guidance for parents and carers, explaining why the techniques work, why certain environmental factors are important, and how they can support their child.
I hope it is helpful for you and your children.
Aislinn
Written by Aislinn Marek
Aislinn Marek is a counsellor with many years' experience of working within education and mental health. She is passionate about supporting people to have good mental health and loves working with children (because she is still a big kid at heart!)
Aislinn enjoys writing and creating stories, and loves the power a good story can have.
She lives with her husband and two children in Greater Manchester, and loves nothing better than curling up with a book and a mug of tea.
Illustrated by Rachael Sligo
Rachael Sligo lives and works in the beautiful county of Northumberland with her husband and two young girls. After having her second daughter in 2016 she decided to start drawing again and quickly fell back in love with the moment of calm that creativity gave her. Since then, she has established a growing art and illustration business focused on whimsical children's watercolour and digital pictures. Her lifelong love of children's literature, her countryside roots and her role as a mum and teacher are constant sources of inspiration.
You can see more of Rachael’s work on her website, Little Flowers By Sligo