Thread: Children and LDs

Yep, I was one of those children too.
I chose 'without a doubt', instead of 'Yes, I was' though, as just because I was a natural child LDer, doesn't automatically mean everyone else was.
I have no doubt that most children are natural lucid dreamers, and don't really know what they're doing.

I remember reading a statistic that said that about 60% of the population has experienced a lucid dream. Most of those were when they were children, I would guess.
I don't recall where I found that statistic though

I remember my first flight vividly at around age 10, ±1 year.

I was, however, unable to fully control it - subsequentally jetting off at mind-numbing speed into space. It was also accompanied by the unmistakeable scratch-scratch-scratch sound of a record when its ended...

In the brief split-second before I woke up, I thought I had died!

Mighty scary, as you can probably surmise. It was a long time before I attempted flying again!!!

C

I voted defintly yes because I was one of them. I can remember having so many contorled dreams where I knew I was not awake. I wish more research were done on this.

When I was a child, my dream recall was excellent and it seems that they used to be a lot more vivid. I was never a natural LDer, though I wish I could have been. I didn't even have my first LD until I was about 13.

Originally posted by Gwendolyn
When I was a child, my dream recall was excellent and it seems that they used to be a lot more vivid.

Yes, it was exactly the same way for me. But I had my first LD naturally when I was maybe 8 or 9. After thinking about why that happened, my theory is that I have always been a pretty logical thinker, and well-grounded in reality (I got that from my Mother, I'm sure). So at some point, when confronted with a monster in my dream (nightmare), I knew that monsters do not exist, and my brain logically concluded that I could not be witnessing reality. Therefore I must be dreaming.

Too bad it doesn't work that way all the time -- far too often I dream about bizarre situations or things without that realization happening. In fact, it seems that most of my lucid dreams occur when I'm dreaming about some fairly normal situation. My theory about that (I'm just full of theories, aren't I? ) is that when bizarre things are happening in my dreams, my brain is too busy to stop and analyze the situation. But when things are more normal, I have more time to really examine what's going on, and I'm more likely to get that "feeling" that something isn't quite right.

yeah I had my first one when I was 8 or 9, but I didn't know anything about the subject, or how I was able to do it, so I wasn't able to repeat it, just happened again every now and again

as I got older they happened more frequently, but it wasn't until I found DV that I was able to get more control over it and increase their frequency

Yes, I completly agree, I started lucid dreaming when I was very young(3-4) thru nightmares, I learned my first control moves trying to avoid them, I learned to fly in them, and probably what must had been my first basis of WILD, although I doubt I ever wilded as a kid, but I do remember SP and HI, all due because of nightmares, while in dreams I would go desperate for control, and to fall back asleep scared, I would sometimes have SP or HI, this lasted me like 3-4 months, after that I have never had anymore nightmares, and most dreams I have are lucid

I don't think this is necesarily true for all or even most children. I need statistical proof to believe this.

My sister always talked about being able to control her dreams when she had a nightmare when she was little. I used to come crying to her to tell her about the monsters I saw in my dream and she used to tell me just to control it and make him dissapear. We didn't know the name for it then but now she realizes she had had lucid dreams all those times she 'killed' her monsters.

I'n so many ways I'm jealous of her. Because now she can still partially control her dreams while I sit her struggling to even remember mine to hopefully become lucid someday.

I almost think that if I would have put my mind to it and tried to follow her advice when I was little, I could be lucid by now. Because, as we all know, children are more impressionable and they pick up things like languages and concepts better. If only I had tried to kill my monsters as a kid. Talk about regret.

~Sarah

I had LDs as a kid, but they increased in frequency as I got older. And I never had any control when I was young, which I do now.

I had many LDs when I was child and I still have LDs now. But it all started when I was like 4-5 years old. (started as only being conscious during dreaming and seeing Sindari's life...and then full control over my dreams came...)

As a child I had no LDs that I can remember. I did remember nightmares.

As a teenager I had some dream composing, but not full lucid.

Only in 20s after reading some books on LD did I get first real lucid.

Originally posted by ravenqueen
I personally think that many children are natural LDers. I think that during the nightmare phase with children they become Lucid and fight their demons, Therefore getting over childhood nightmares. Children are also open to all other stages. After the nightmare stage children are more open to learning more. If this makes sence to you, please post.

That scenario played out in verbatim from my child hood...had I only known. Shooey
29 years later I realize the truth of what I was experiencing. The time in between was lost. Although I would not push it on children, they will certainly be aware of what conscious dreaming is!!

the poll is closed, but i virtually vote yes at all.

I used to have LD since primary school (and also wrote about in my school notebooks, which my teachers didn't like because there's nothing more boring that somebody else talking about their dreams)
i learnt separately to control and to recognize dreams. the first time I changed a dream I wasn't aware at all it was, so it took a lot of unrequired effort . I dreamt somebody phoned me at school to tell a bomb had killed my parents, so I hung to the "scene" "with nails and teeth" (this was the feeling) and pulled back time. Then woke up a little exausted
At the time (I was about 9 ) I already had a few ways to recognize dreams, but I never thougth I could control them. I only woke up or changed scene (by jumping into anything black, as I wrote in a schoolbook when I was 7-8) if I didn't like them.
After the bomb dream I thought I could mix the two things, awareness and control, and started to have some real fun

yes, I think it's easier for children, also because they have lots of years to practise (where an adult will get tired of trying in something like months...) and they have no reason to believe "it's all nonsensem isn't it?".

I had LDs as a kid and had no idea what they were.

A couple mornings ago, I was talking to our 10 and 11 year olds. Both told me about dreams where "they knew they were dreaming," as if it were perfectly normal. I suspect it is perfectly normal.

I also think you suppose almost right

Originally posted by pj
I had LDs as a kid and had no idea what they were.

A couple mornings ago, I was talking to our 10 and 11 year olds. *Both told me about dreams where "they knew they were dreaming," as if it were perfectly normal. *I suspect it is perfectly normal.

Yeah when my brother was a teenager, he told me how he'd be having a really great dream, where he was controlling the story, but then he'd wake up in the morning before his alarm. It pissed him off but he said he figured out how to fall right back to sleep and continue the dream.

Later I discovered my mom does the same thing. Guess it runs in the family.

Originally posted by OpheliaBlue


Later I discovered my mom does the same thing. Guess it runs in the family.

may this be possible?
my mother does "photoshop stuff" in her dreams (altough not lucid), and her sister is a lucid dreamer (I think natural )

mah
I'll keep my ears open with the little cousins (i'm sort of a underpayed babysitter)