This review describes the wide spectrum of paroxysmal events during sleep in infancy and childhood. The differential diagnosis between sleep-related non-epileptic paroxysmal events and epileptic seizures is difficult in special occasions. The nocturnal frontal lobe seizure and of the more common non-epileptic paroxysmal events during sleep are described. The main differentiating features characterizing parasomnias are: onset in early childhood, rare episodes of long duration, relatively lower frequency per night, absence of stereotypy, gradual disappearance of older age. Video-polysomnography is the gold standard to diagnosing and differentiating parasomnias from nocturnal frontal lobe seizures.