Guardians of the Night

Something happens when we grow up. We stop believing. All of the things that frighten us, amaze us, and protect us as a child become nothing more than a figment of our childish imagination. We are so quick to tell our children that they do not exist. But what if I told you that your children are right? There really is a monster in every child’s bedroom. There is one for each child. Some of them hide under the bed. Some of them hide inside the closet. They wait and watch from outside the child's bedroom window. Most children never see their monster. They are great at disguising themselves. That scratching sound that your child hears, it’s not a tree branch. It’s not just a coat hanging on a hook that they see. The glowing eyes that seem to disappear when they look at them, it’s all real.

Most children are not aware that their monster is even there. The monsters prefer it that way. Children tend to fear monsters. You might find this hard to believe, but most monsters are afraid of screaming children. The sound wreaks havoc on their sensitive ears. When the parents come and turn on the lights, it blinds their large eyes. So, when your child says that they saw a monster, it was a mistake. The monster did not want to be seen.

The fact is that the monsters are not there to harm the child. They are there to protect them. Their job is to scare away all of the things that can harm them at night. They exist to get rid of the things your child fears. If your child fears the monster, it has not done its job. A monster that frightens a child is recalled to the monster world. Their memory is wiped. They are reassigned. Sometimes, the child's memory is wiped. No monster wants that.

Once in a while, a child will discover their monster and do all they can to meet them. These children have no fear of things that hide or go bump in the night. These are the children that investigate for themselves. They don’t want to involve their parents. They would rather lure the monster out into the open. They stare the monster in the eyes. Or the eye, depending on the monster. When this happens, the closest friendship imaginable can be forged. A child-monster bond is not broken easily.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown owned a large house with 10 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms. They had 4 children of their own. Tommy, Greg, Brian, and Susan were the names of the Brown children. They were all just 1 year apart. Each child had their own bedroom. That is until they decided to open their home up for foster children. This didn’t upset the Brown children. They thought it was cool to have new brothers and sisters all the time. With one of the rooms set up as an office, that left 8 rooms for children. 2 kids per room meant that they could have 12 foster children at a time. One monster for each child. 16 kids, 16 monsters. With so many monsters in one house, things can get very exciting.

Tommy was the youngest. He was the first to make friends with his monster. When Tommy was 8 years old, he shared a room with Mike, who was also 8 years old. He warned Mike not to be afraid of the things that go bump in the night. He told him the story of his monster. Mike did not believe in monsters. “Oh! You will. I guarantee it. By the end of the night, you will.”

Stay tuned, as each kid tells the story of their monster.