2 Yr Old Afraid of Thunder Storms

with my kids & my nieces & nephews, I explain that the spirits are having horse races up in the clouds. As they run through the creeks, the water splashes out & some falls to us as rain. As they run across rocks it makes thunder, running on flint rock makes lightening. That helped my kids a lot.

VERY normal. We talk about the fact that thunder is ONLY a noise. A noise CANNOT hurt you. We talk about the angels bowling and getting a strike if it's pretty loud. There are also tapes & DVD's of rainstorms that instructors use (including me) for classes. You might try a DVD and see how he responds to that. Keep it on low volume and see how he gets along. He might just decide that what he hears is only a recording (minus any lightening, of course!)

A.,

Wow, that must be really hard on the nights your husband is away. I truly feel for you. Unfortunately, I think this is something every child goes through.

My 3 1/2 year old is starting to come out of the fear. (Although running the air conditioner fan to cover the noise of the thunder helps quite a bit) The older she's become, the more interested in how and why things happen. We take her out to our screened-in porch and watch with her for the 'cracks'. The lightening has now been labeled "Coooool!" And she gets excited if she sees a bolt of lightening now. Kind of like if she sees a rainbow or butterfly.

She still has had a bad night or two this past spring, and we had to turn the lights on in her room (the lightening was flashing up her room too much) and we turned on some soft music and sat with her until she fell back asleep. The funny thing is that she's slept through some huge storms and my husband and I were the ones laying awake in bed (waiting for HER cries - but they never came!)

Good luck to you. This too shall pass.
J.

Hi A.,
The poor little guy! I imagine that Dad being gone so much could be part of his anxiety. Of course, that part can't be helped, but the 1st thing that came to mind is to try co-sleeping with him. He doesn't necessarily need to share your bed, but being in the same room, where you can respond immediately, may help. And just knowing you are close and he can hear your breathing may help him to sleep more deeply. My 4-year-old co-sleeps, either in her bed next to mine and her dad's, or actually with us in our king size bed. This is the only way she has ever slept well, and it is easier to get her right back asleep when she wakes up. Good luck!

My dad always loved to watch the storms and even chase "potential tornados". He used to have me sit on the porch w/ him and watch them. He would point out clouds,lightning, thunder and even steal me some hail. So growing up being exposed to it alot it became something comforting. Now I sleep the best during storms.. I open up the windows and listen.

I was really scared of storms when I was little. It didn't go away until I was around 10--maybe older, but I remember a couple things helping:

- Watching the lightning with my mom. Sit with your son and look out the window. Watch how the lightning makes everything show up in the dark. Show him that he can see his sandbox, or the fire hydrant or whatever, with every flash of lightning.

- Understanding how thunder is related to lightning. After every lightning flash, count to five. See how many times you can count to 5 before the thunder. (1-one thousand,2-one thousand,3-one thousand,4- ,5- ; 2-one thousand,2- ,3- ,
4- ,5- ...) Sound travels about a mile every five seconds. For every time you can count to five, the lightning was one mile away. You can tell if the storm is getting closer, or farther away. You can tell him things like, "That lightning was 3 miles away; that's as far away as... McDonald's, the park, big brother's school..." you get the picture. Celebrate the really loud thunders. "Yay, that was a good one!" (It's okay to admit that one "snuck up" on you, and you were startled too! If he can see you are calm, he'll pick up on it.)

Hope this helps.

I started singing songs about the rain and telling him what it meant when things happened. We sing "its rainging its pouring the old man is snoring bumped his head on the bed and couldn't wake up in the morning." I tell my children when they hear thunder its the angels bowling in heaven. Hope this helps .

When mine were much younger they were scared as well. We started making our own thunder sounds, having contests to see who's was the longest, loudest, lowest, etc... Once the fear of the thunder started to diminish, we started watching the storms to try to guess where the lightening would strike next, vote on the most dazzling, etc... No one is afraid anymore.

Hi! I just wanted to let you know my two year old son is going through this exact same thing, and has actually just started doing it this storm season. Unfortunately, it seems like the only thing that can soothe him is daddy or I holding him. So, I unfortunately, don't have any advice on how to calm your son down. However, knowing that it is going on with other children the same age makes me think it's possibly just a phase, and they'll grow out of it. I just thought I'd let you knwo mine does the same in hopes that you'll feel the same about them growing out of it. Good luck!

You know, I hope this helps...My son has had problems with that, also, and I quickly resolved them using this...Since the storms seemed to come *(around our area)* in the summer time...And my son LOVES fireworks...I told him that the thunder and lightning were God's fireworks. And they can be pretty and fun...But also dangerous. The same thing that I tell him when we let off actual fireworks. I've heard of people saying that is God bowling, etc. But the fireworks thing totally worked with him, the bang and then the flash of light, made sense to him. And he had no problems after I told him that...He would wake up in the morning and ask me if I heard God doing his fireworks, and why couldn't we watch them, things like that, but wasn't scared at all. Just thought I'd give you my twist on things...I try to be imaginative and think of what I would like if I were in his position. Anyways, if this works, or some other suggestion, I hope you can clear it up and resolve his fears! I know it's very hard having a child be afraid of something...Harder yet, if you lose sleep over it! Best of luck!

Hi A.,
Our 2 year old daughter was also afraid, very afraid. We decided to put her raincoat on her (yes in the middle of the night even) and take her outdoors to watch the lightening and hear the thunder. We would also just play in the puddles also and sing songs and also say that God is moving furniture around or that he was bowling with his angels. We also talked about certain noises do scare, but they can't touch you like pets, mommy or daddy or even soft stuffed animals. When she finally realized that it was just noise that can not be controlled, she has been sleeping all through the night! Good Luck!

My parents and my grandmother did wonders to teach my sister and me that thunderstorms were glorious events so I've spent my entire life loving them. As a tiny girl, my grandmother would take me to sit on the porch and watch the storms roll past. As we sat enjoying the sheets of pouring rain blowing just off the porch, she would tell me stories of sitting on that very porch as a little girl with her grandfather. My parents would make the night storms an adventure. If the electric went out, we sat around pretending to be scary or making silly sounds acting as if we were scared. They would have us watch the lightning strikes and see the beauty. They would talk about all the different things that might be going on in the sky to make the thunder be so loud.

I did these things with my own children (even the newest addition to our family who came to us at 8 years old deathly afraid of storms) has learned the love that my family gave to me.

May you find that a good night storm awakes your household and begins a lifetime of family adventure!

I agree with the others, console and comfort him and even let him sleep with you if necessary. My kids know that if it is storming and they are scared they can bring their pillow in our room and lay on the floor if it will make them feel better. My mom used to tell us that God and the Angels were bowling in heaven and when they got a "strike" the lightning flashed. =)

Try clapping and getting excited when you hear the thunder. When we have “little boomers” we clap and say YEAH as we look out our window. Our baby sitter started this last year with Logan and it’s great. Friday night, we had to take cover after the boys were already in bed. I was worried Logan would be scared. We just explained when we got him up that when there are really BIG boomers we have to play in the closet. We still clapped and said YEAH when we heard the thunder. He caught on and enjoyed the closet time…Elijah on the other hand slept through it all on a pallet in the closet. It works for us! Oh yea, we also played Cars on the portable DVD player in the closet.

I really wish there was an immediate solution to this problem at my finger tips for you!!! All I can say is "this too will pass with time". I think he was having an uncomfortable dream and awoke with the thunder. Since we have had so many thunderstorms this year the noise some how connects with the dream in his subconcious and here we go with a night terror.
The only thing I know to do at this point is to hug him, dry his tears, and maybe let him sleep with you (a few times) whether in his bed or yours for the rest of the night.
If you know a storm is coming you might try leaving a night light on in his room with some soft music playing to down play the sudden flashes of night and help cover some of the noise.
I will pray for your son.

This is something he'll have to outgrow. Fears at this age are very normal. Just reassure him each time, don't make him feel bad for being afraid. Being fearful is a normal emotion for everyone. Let him know that sometimes you get afraid too. That might help him to know that it's ok to be afraid. And with the thunder that comes in the night, he's in a nice peaceful sleep, then suddenly there's all this noise, rattling the house and windows, it can be scary for adults, too. I freely admit that I'm terrified of thunderstorms. I sleep with a flashlight in case the power goes out during a storm, because I'm scared of the dark, as well. So maybe get him his own little flashlight and tell him that it's for when it storms, so he can see and maybe that will help alleviate some of the fears. Other than that, hold him, cuddle him, and just let him know he'll be okay. :-)

Hi A.,

I feel ya sister!! My little guy is 2 1/2 as well. Sam was never afraid of storms until we had a really bad one about a month back where we had to take cover. Now he feels that thunder and lightening is something to fear.

You are dead on with the "water the plants". Kids totally get that. Our problem is at night too. What I've been doing is telling him that the clouds get really busy and they bump into each other. Like when you run too fast and don't pay attention to where you are going. When they hit it causes lightening. THen the clouds have to say I'm sorry. SOme have a booming voice. (Put on your inner actress here... work with me ;) ). In a low booming voice say "You got in my way Mr. cloud!" Then in a high squeeky one, just for fun "I'm sorry". We make a game out of silly voices. Before you know it, he is laughing with me and not afraid once I tuck him in and reassure him it's ok. Now, I have also told him that there are some storms that are kinda nasty. THOSE are the storms that Mommies and Daddies listen for and we'll let you know when we need to be extra careful and go to the bathroom (or your safe spot in your house) for safety. Otherwise, just relax and listen to the clouds talk to each other. He seems more at ease with it. I think it helps his little 2 1/2 year old mind distinguish the difference. Best wishes!! Hope it helps!