Behind the Stanza: Creating “A Good Night” in Poems for Breakfast

Writing

Dec 20

Written By Jolyn Janis

Sparks, sketches, and surprises that shaped the Poems for Breakfast book series.

Some fears are universal. The unknown. And for countless children, those mysterious shapes lurk in bedroom closets.

But what if the solution isn’t eliminating the fear but transforming it?

That's at the heart of “A Good Night.”

A GOOD NIGHT

I thought I was afraid,

Of monsters in the dark,

But then I got real brave,

And I set them all apart.

I named each one I knew,

The first was Silly Saul.

Then Kooky Kam and Snockers,

Who both wish they were tall.

Allie Rex was next in line,

I thought of Goober Dee.

She said she likes her name just fine,

And she’s sorry she scared me.

When all of them got names

And we settled in to sleep,

They wished me a good night

And no one made a peep.

The “Don’t Think About Monsters” Problem

"Charlotte's having such a hard time going to bed," my sister told me over the phone. "She's convinced there are monsters in her closet. You know how big that closet door is in her room? She just stares at it and gets more and more worried.”

I could picture little Charlotte, wide-eyed and worried, watching that imposing closet door. As my sister talked, something started brewing in my mind. What if we stopped trying to convince Charlotte that the monsters weren't real and instead we helped her make them familiar?

Try this: Don’t think about monsters.

Go ahead. Do it.

Yeah, even you can’t stop thinking about monsters once they get into your head.

So if we absolutely must think about what we try not to think about, what happens when we just give our fear names? If you name them, then it’s like you know them. If you know them, they're not so scary. And if they're not so scary, maybe they can be friends.

Poetry is a Superpower

This poem came through pretty quickly and easily. A few edits after, but not much. I sent it to my sister for Charlotte, and something beautiful happened.

“Charlotte doesn’t worry about monsters in the closet anymore after she named them.”

This was my first experience watching a simple poem create undeniable change in someone's life. Taking something scary and making it not just manageable, but delightful.

From here on, I realized that poems hold power.

Flip the Script

When we teach kids to reframe their thoughts, we're building new neural pathways. We're showing them that scary things can become familiar things just by the power of our mind. That unknown can become known. These aren't just lessons about bedtime monsters, they're tools for life.

Maybe next time they face something frightening, they'll remember: sometimes the best way forward isn't to eliminate what scares us but to transform how we see it.

Grown-Ups Have Monsters Too

Adults have monsters in their closets too. They just look different. Maybe yours is that difficult conversation you've been avoiding, or that creative project that feels too big to start.

What if you gave your monsters names? What if you made the unknown known?