My mom when I was growing told me that sleep was very important. She said that in the middle of the night when you go to bed and you are going through years of change that people would come into my bedroom in the middle of the night and stretch my limbs to make me grow. She explained that’s how some kids would grow so much and you wouldn’t even notice it. As a child this totally creped me out but I then realized it was just a figure of speech.

Informant: I got this from my girlfriend Katie who recalled hating going to sleep at night. She said her mom would say this to her as a way of reassuring that no one was trying to hurt her. Instead she would stay up later at night hoping that no such thing would come into her room and touch her.

Analysis: I feel like a lot of parents may you use this as a device to make growing up fun and fanciful. As a child is losing their sense of imagination and fiction, parents would give a mystical explanation for the growth of their children. I used to hate when my mom would tell me stories of people coming into my room at night whether they were nice or not. I would rather no one come into my room at night.