World Sleep Day is here and while as much as I want to be an up with the lark sort of person I am much more of a night owl. Lovely that we use such nice birds to describe our relationship to bedtime isn’t it.
I’m blessed to be a deep sleeper - most of the time - and this morning when I woke up with my teddy bear of a dog on one side and the sprawling arms of my 7 year old wound around me it was, as usual, a bit of an extraction to get myself into the waking world.
Realising it is World Sleep Day I started thinking about the joys, not just of getting into and waking up in a well made bed, but also the world we inhabit in our dreams. How dreams can be delightful, mystifying, even terrifying and why they make so much sense to us but often just sound slightly unhinged upon trying to explain them to another person. I fairly often have vivid dreams and marvel at the way they can, at times, so obviously be an exploration of emotional experiences from our waking world. One of my favourite times of sleep is when you are deep in a really good dream but just awake enough to give the dream a little direction.
Forivor came into being because I really believe in the power of bedtimes for children and the power of those few moments cuddled up together in bed for the wellbeing of our children as they grow and for us as adults too. We wanted Alice’s beautiful illustrations and our character cards to be both informative and provide a gentle moment of learning but also to set alight imaginations in preparation for a really good night of dreaming. Who knows if that’s even possible but we like to think it is. After ten years of sharing our designs with the world, whether or not our blankets have set children off on dream adventures into Forivorland, we know that they have become much loved essential parts of many family bedtimes around the world and that is something we feel very proud of.
There’s something so bonding about sharing those tired moments of life with the people that make you feel safe and calm and loved but its also a moment where we can unpick the day and make sense of it, begin our dreams, imagine what the new day tomorrow might bring (and sometimes of course that is worry not excitement) but when bedtimes are at their best, we are safe and sheltered from the world and all their is left of the day is to imagine what the future may bring or fall into slumber and dream the time away.
