2 1/2 Yo Daughter Afraid of Thunderstorms

Hyland's (homeopathic) Calms Forte 4 Kids is great, so are Bach Flower Essences Rescue Remedy. We use both and know others who do also, we all have had success with both remedies. The Rescue remedy comes in a oral spray or in pastilles (like little honey flavored candies) so you'll want to watch for choking hazard but my 2 y.o. does just fine with them.

The biggest thing is patience... from you...
Don't draw attention to the next storm and it will take her longer to realize whats going to happen then if you pipe up with theres thunder as soon as you first hear it...
Its perfectly normal at that age to fear such a powerful thing. Some of those claps of thunder shake the windows... Keep trying to explain it in a way she can understand and eventually (could be next week, could be next year)she'll start telling you the explenation... My girlie is now 6, and knows why and how thunderstorms happen but still jumps and wants to cuddle when the storm is at its worst, but if given the option, i want to cuddle too. :-) Thats what make those storms so sweet. The child hood memories of spending time with loved ones, cuddled up in their arms reading a book...

Well I remember those days, I have a 18 yr old and a 7 yr old. Both girls were the same. Have you ever taken her bowling? The bowling alley sounds kinda of like rumble and a lightning strike. I explain to my kids god was taking a little brake while the sprinklers were on for the flowers and trees and went bowling. So they here him having fun. The counting trick works well to. After you hear the strike or first rumble then you count 1-1000, 2-1000, 3-1000 etc. The longer the counts are between rumbles the further the storm is away. Good luck, I hope this helps. My kids truly believed the bowling story until they went to school!

J.;

I have not read what the other moms have done...

my son is the same way at almost four years old, but I have to say you are almost right on!

for my son I do this:

I tell him the thunder is the Angels having a bowling game in the heavens. The lightning is the strike.

I also have a deck of Angel cards (as these are always nice to have to pick up one's spirit!) and I showed him these to let him get a 'sense' of what the Angels looked like. The deck has a few child Angels. He can easily relate to children, obviously! I then let him pick any special card to hold and look at (carefully, of course!) while the storm is going on.

this helps him calm down so much! I was truly amazed how well it worked the first time. The next time a storm came, he asked for my Angel Deck. And, more importantly... he was calm!

You can also purchase Chamilla/ Chamomile ... this is a homeopathic that can soothe them, it's great for ear infections/aches and teething (of course... she may be over most of that now). But it does a lot!

When there's a severe storm, my son gets a homeopathic if the card he is holding doesn't really help... meaning he is still 'unsettled', but not really crying.

Good Luck!

Try the children's book Thundercake. I can't remember the author, but it a great one during a storm and has a recipe to follow to make a thundercake during a storm. Hope this helps a little.
Also, we say "It is just God bowling!"
:)) A.

My son had a fear of thunderstorms. He was about 5 or 6. He didn't start out afraid..just all of a sudden he was terrified, but it passed. Even though I would not let him near a window with lighting he got over his fears probably by the next year. I don't think it will last with your child...it's not unheard of for a kid to be afraid of storms. Of course my son has a mother and grandmother who absolutely love storms...the worst the better lol. I wouldn't worry about it too much, it won't last forever.

Hi J.---I don't know how much these suggestions will help with a 2 yr old, but probably success will come after a time with patience and calm assurance from you. We would tell our children that the noise from storms was from God and the angels bowling together. The big thunderclaps are when God got a strike! I think it is the sudden noise that scares children most so that if you can prepare them for the thunder, it can help there. So, another strategy was to count from the time we saw the lightening to when we heard the thunder. This will tell you how far the storm is from you. This helps to anticipate the thunder which makes the sudden noise expected instead of a surprise AND will help to tell when the storm is going away from her and will be over soon.

I'm sure this will take some time for her to learn this, but as you keep talking about it being a regular part of life, she will eventually understand and her consciousness will be able to control her fears.

Good luck. Hope this helps. D.

Hello J., This is just a stage, she will out grow it before you know it..........If you don't allow her to get so much extra attention from it. That will back fire on you. Going out side is a great idea. Play some CD's that have thunder storms with music while you are in the house doing fun things. She will begin to associate the sound with good feelings. Reasure her, but do not give her more attention than normal. That will incourage her to have lots of fears of lots of things just to get all of the extra loving. Good luck.

The next time, you do the same thing as you just described. She's only 2.5. Lots of things and loud noises scare them. I don't know anyone who hasn't been afraid of thunderstorms. It's healthy, because it shows a certain respect for nature and weather. So you don't want to quash it altogether. A healthy respect keeps them on their toes later.
But just hold her, soothe her, and comfort her. Eventually I'm sure it'll pass.
Thinking about it, when my kids were a lot younger, there was a series of books we got that helped to explain things like this, in a way kids understood and in a child's book form. Cute little rabbits and animals that have questions, etc. The ideal format, as far as illustrations.
The book of 'Why?" or something like that. Very thin, hard cover. We got them mail order. I am sure we don't still have them, but a library might.

It will take time, but patience and reassurance are your best bet. Storms can be scary so make sure she knows it is ok to be afraid. Remember the fear doesn't goes away just because some one said "there's nothing to be afraid of". She needs to know that storms will happen and they always end. And then, distraction until the worst has passed ;-) Try to turn it into someting fun and soon she may even look forward to the storms.

God Bless
K.

I have told my son, who is also afraid of thunder, that it is God playing sports. Something like bowling. The lightning is the score board lighting up.

If she doesn't believe what you say, there is nothing that will convince her. You may just have to sit with her and hold her. Maybe watch a movie or listen to music (assuming the storm hasn't knocked the power out).

I also had a child that was afraid of the storms. She was 2 and terrified of them! She is now 2 1/2 and is starting to like them. What I did was I bought a CD with thuderstorms on it. I told her God recorded it to "prepare" her for the big game (bowling) he was going to play. I told her it was a secret when the game was, so she had to watch out for it. She thought it was a riot, waiting for the game. I also bought a DVD of thuderstorms. We watched it and I told her it was last years games. When a storm actually came she was sound asleep and I broke the rule of waking a sleeping child and got her up. I told her God was bowling and we had to cheer him on. We sat on the couch and watched the lighting and thunder and the rain. We said the rain were the tears of the people losing and the lighting was camera flashes. She even started to say "cheese" with the lighting. Now when it rains during the day, we will sometimes make popcorn for the match. I think the more I made it a "game" or just something fun, she really enjoys it. Just recently we had a storm in the middle of the night and she showed up in our room. She wanted to know where the popcorn was. I had to explain to her that it was way too late for that. She said "okay" and went back to bed. Good luck!

I would count with the boys with them laying in bed in the dark. When we seen the lightening flash, we start counting and than we stop when the thunder comes. The closer the storm the less numbers you count and than you start counting longer when the storm moves away. By the time the actual storm was there, the boys were asleep from the counting.
My parents would always tell me that it was the Angels bowling and someone bowled a strike .. can you tell what hobby I grew up with ! ! !

J.,

I remember when I was young and afraid of thunderstorms myself. I have since grown to love them. My older sister played the piano and one night during a storm when the lights went out and the T.V. went off she sat down and played for something to do. Except for the storm outside the house was quiet save the piano played by candle light. The music was soothing and calmed me down very quickly and I lost all agitation and fear I had been feeling. After that first incident I would ask her to play whenever a storm seemed particularly fierce and she would gladly do it since I was her baby sister. I would recommend trying some type of soothing music, maybe buy her a music box or keep in mind some music that is particularly calming that you play only when she seems frightened. You also might take her into a room that doesn't have windows so she doesn't see the flashes of lightening. Our dog would always hide during storms in a room without windows. She was afraid of them too. Since she hasn't responded to the explanation of what a storm is I think the next best solution is to distract her until she ougrows her fear as she surely will.

Good luck,
S.

my kids (3 & 2) have both at one point been afraid of thunderstorms. my 3 year old daughter the most, but it passed. i tried explaining and watching as you did, and at first it didn't work. so i kind of ignored storms all together and would pretend like nothing out of the ordinary was happening, i wouldn't announce that it was thundering or lightning, or even raining for that matter. then just recently i noticed they were not as nervous when a storm passed through, so then i showed them how to count after it lightnings and then it will thunder and it tells us how close the storm is. they thought it was pretty neat and spent an entire afternoon sitting in front of the glass door waiting for the lightning and thunder. i think it's just a phase that she'll get over. my kids did!!! good luck..

Hi J.,

I was going to suggest the counting thing as well. Thunderstorms can be very frightening for someone so young. I would continue to comfort her, let her know that she is safe and sound. Calmly reassure her that although we need to be careful when storms come up, there is nothing to be afraid of.

Hopefully this is a phase that will pass soon.

As a little girl (I am now 59), I remember being very afraid of storms. I always had the comfort from my mother whenever a storm hit. If the storm hit in the middle of the night, I would wake up and crawl in bed with her. Now I love storms. I love to watch them and listen to them. I would give your little girl time, and just be there for her so she will feel safe and protected. My guess is that she will outgrow this.