Monster Bedtime Stories (The Friendly Kind)
There are two kinds of monster story and it is worth knowing which one you have picked up. In the first, the monster is defeated — chased off, shrunk, revealed to be a dressing gown. It is satisfying, and it quietly confirms the thing you were hoping to undo: that there was something under there worth defeating.
The second kind makes the monster boring. It has a name and a routine and its own small problems. It is under the bed because that happens to be the only flat dark place in the room and it is embarrassed about being seen. Nothing is conquered, because nothing needed conquering. That is the version below, free to read aloud tonight. If it is the fear you are dealing with rather than the monsters, the scared-of-the-dark page linked at the foot of this one is the closer fit.
The Monster Under the Bed Was Simply Very Tall
A free story to read aloud tonight
The monster under Otto’s bed was called Gnash, which sounded far more alarming than it turned out to be, and its entire problem was that it was seven feet long and the room only had one flat dark place in it.
“I could go in the wardrobe,” said Gnash, from underneath, in a voice like a fridge. “I have tried the wardrobe. You have to fold.”
Otto hung his head over the edge, upside down, and looked. There was a monster under there the way there is a bicycle in a shed: entirely, and without drama. It had its arms tucked in. It had, for some reason, a mug.
“Are you going to do anything?” said Otto.
“I have never done anything in my life,” said Gnash, with some pride. “I lie here. Occasionally I move a sock about eight inches, which is enough to keep the reputation going. It is very tiring being frightening. I would honestly rather not.”
So they lay there, one above and one below, and Gnash said the ceiling was a nice colour and Otto said thank you, and after a while neither of them said anything at all. In the morning there was a sock about eight inches from where it had been, and Otto did not mention it, because it clearly meant a lot.
Should I check under the bed, or does that confirm the fear?
Parents land on both sides of this, and both work. Some find a quick, bored, matter-of-fact look — the same energy as checking whether the bins went out — settles things without adding weight. Others find that any checking becomes a nightly ritual that grows. What most guidance agrees on is the tone rather than the action: a search performed seriously teaches that a serious search was warranted.
Is a monster story a bad idea if my child is already frightened?
A scary one is. A story where the monster is dull, polite and slightly inconvenienced tends to do the opposite of frightening, because it hands the child a version of the thing that is impossible to be afraid of. If your child is genuinely distressed at bedtime rather than playing at it, the fear is the thing to work on and a story is one small part of that — worth mentioning to your pediatrician if it is affecting sleep for weeks.
Can I make a personalized monster story with my child in it?
Yes. Pick “My own…” at the story world step and type something like “a shy monster who lives under the bed”, and your child is in it by name with watercolor pictures and a narrator, in about thirty seconds. Every Z Tales story is built to end calm, so the monster will not be doing anything alarming on the last page.