Monsters under the bed

If you're flying home on Monday, pack them in your suitcase on Sunday.

Most children go through this. I remember lying in bed, must have been about that age, thinking that the sound of my heartbeat was a monster walking around downstairs. Seem to remember he had a keeper called The Cheeseman. Fortunately they stayed downstairs and did not frighten me much!
I think you need some complicated magic to drive or tempt these out of the house. A story about why they are there (are they lost?) The things they don't like - bright lights? certain sounds? certain smells? magic words? special food left out to tempt them? tickets home? people with facepaint on? (of course you found out all this on the internet...)
Well it might be a fun way to spend time
Remember that children do not really have any fixed ideas of how big things are - so they might be able to fit in that suitcase...

absents suggestion is a good one.
Look under the bed with him and shout them out of the house or very politely tell them to go and wave them goodbye at the door, you being a gran with special powers, the monsters will obey you.

When mine were small and frightened by thunder I got them shouting Yah! Boo! Sucks! when the thunder clap came. Not very elegant but it worked. Its just distraction really.
I remember creating stories about Vernon the vacuum cleaner just being hungry when the noise of that frightened them. I think such things have a high pitched whine we can't hear.

Yes Jess I remember being convinced that Daphne Oxenford and her colleagues on Listen with Mother actually inhabited the large wireless set in our living room in the early fifties.
I think monsters under the bed are the downside of all those wonderful imaginative games that children of that age play.
It may even be an important way of learning how to cope with real fears in the real world.
tiggy, absent's suggestion is an excellent one, or I would go along with it and say I could see the monsters too, but they were friendly and wanted to come out and play.
And then play with them - make cups of monster tea etc.
have a safe journey back - the rest of us with overseas DGCs know how painful these partings are.

Tell him the thunder is just the clouds banging into one another as they hurry across the sky - it will make them spill their rain very soon. Count the seconds between lightning and thunder as the clouds move overhead, and wait for them to get near enough for the rain to spill out, then move further off to rain somewhere else.

That is near enough to the truth about thunderstorms to pave the way for the real scientific explanation when he is old enough, and give him a chance to say "I knew that!"

When DD was little she went through a phase of being scared to sleep in her room. The simple solution in our case was to tell her that 'frightening things' didn't like the colour purple (her favourite). She helped me to paint her room and was never worried again.

Off subject, but I am reminded that when we were changing from cot to bed, she thought that Noddy had taken the cot to the woods! Don't know where the idea came from, but it made for a smooth transition!

I hope you find a solution.

Elegran we were always told thunder was the clouds banging together and I said the same to my children. My daughter believed it until she was 17 and told her then boyfriend that was the cause of thunder. Imagine her face when he roared with laughter and told her the truth.
When my son was little he thought there were monster in his cupboard. We used to get a broom and sweep them out and he then settled happily.

It was years before I realised the ghost floating by my bedroom door was my tweedy dressing gown. Still don't like sleeping with the door open in case the housecoats float around

When I was a toddler, I would sometimes get up and go to the lavatory. I then had to be back in bed before the noise of the flush stopped, or something (too horrific to envision) would befall me! And I thought that up for myself, and believed it...

Absent's idea is a great one. When my DGS (3) stays with me he likes to have the story of 3 little pigs but worries about the wolf blowing the house down. We pat the walls to make sure they are made of stone (stronger than brick of course) and then I reassure him that Gran would never allow any bad things to get to my precious boy. He believes in the power of Gran! You taking the monsters away would be like this - as long as you made sure not to bring them back next time!!

You could offer to pack the monsters in your carry on bag and drop them out of the plane when you are over the ocean - then they won't be able to come back.

Lots of good ideas to see those pesky monsters off! Whatever you choose to do , do it with a no nonsense 'I'm in charge' approach!

In the recent thunderstorms my DGD aged 7 refused to have a bath 'because water conducts electricity' ..took a long science /maths lesson to get her into the water! Sheet lightning/ brick walls/probability etc etc!

My DD1 aged about 3 once woke up crying and frightened because the big bad 'wuff' was at the window... it was our cat scratching to get in!

Thanks everyone - some super ideas. Particularly like the one about putting the monster in my case but it would have to be tipped over Russia perhaps as not many oceans between here and Amsterdam. That does remind me however coming back some years ago (DD came for 10 months 13 years ago) there was a party of Chinese students on the flight. Picking up speed going down the runway one of them took out the life vest, put it on and inflated it. The crew had some choice words including 'And we're not going anywhere near any !!*! water'. The only time I have heard them swear !

Get a small torch with a good beam and tell him that it zaps all monsters

Brilliant idea that, Eleanorre [can I have one as well, please ?]. feetle; my grandson is like that but with him he has to leave the bathroom as soon as he pulls the plug out of the sink and the water runs out [is it a boy thing ?]...

I seem to have a vague memory of Daddy taking the monsters from under my son's bed and shooting them in the garden.

It wasn't until my son was about 30 that he told me the thing that really terrified him was the Muppets poster I had pinned on his door. I always thought he loved it!