| Summary: | In studying the dreams of First Nations children, I
honoured Native culture through gaining knowledge to plan
for future generations and by acknowledging dreams, I hoped
to revive the Native belief that empowerment and guidance
could be obtained from dreams. The literature on children's
dreams and the experiences of children of alcoholics was
minimal. In this qualitative exploratory study, I analyzed
the dreams of a Native boy and girls between the ages of 9
and 13. The child participants were from home environments
where the mother was recovering from alcoholism. I examined
the dreamer's perceptions in the dreams collected and the
results indicated that dreams did not reveal direct evidence
of alcohol, or First Nations themes. The dreams however did
expose other issues that the children were dealing with,
which were sometimes connected to alcoholism. Some of these
concerns were: domestic violence, neglect, and abuse. Along
with these grave issues, the children also dealt with less
serious concerns in their dreams, such as quarrels with
friends. The children's resiliency varied, individually,
according to their dream perceptions of themselves, and
others. The findings suggest that collecting a series of
dreams could enable a counsellor to gain information about
the child's situation that the child may not otherwise
convey. This assessment from dreams can assist in planning
interventions for the child and family.
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