Need Some Advice! - Orem,UT

teach him about wind. tell him what it is, what it does (the good things), and how it does it and why. Show him that we can make wind or move air by blowing on his hand or face. Get happy when you notice it's windy.

At this age, anything they have no control over or cannot see is a fear factor sometimes. This is a good time to sit with him, look up wind on the internet and teach him about weather.
Explain what wind is, why you cannot see it, what needs to happen in the weather for it to occur.
My daughter after Katrina was a wreck about hurricanes, I mean the slightest thunderstorm and she was sure we were being hit. After using it to educate her (not to mention we are in Colorado where there are NO hurricanes), she felt so empowered with her knowing about them. Now she is fascinated with weather and reads all about it, destined to be a weather girl, hee hee. Empower him, don't enable the fear.
Wind can be scary mainly because you cannot see it, but if you explain what to do if it gets too windy and what it occurs then that will help him feel he has control over it.
I am a huge believer that you don't enable a fear, but explain it, educate the child about their fear and empower them with it, then they feel control.
Also, when going through therapy after a divorce my daughter piped up about fear of tornados and the hurricanes. What she was feeling was out of control of her element and that she used her fears for weather to express her fears of other things. Not to sound whacky but kids sometimes are feeling things that they are afraid of and project it on an actual word, like the wind or something. If he has gone through any new changes or anything that can all of a sudden esculate a fear.
My thought though is most of these posts are right on, don't enable it or encourage it, reassure and educate. Kids at three are starting to realize the world is bigger then just the house they live in and they don't have control, for kids structure and security are everything.
Hang in there.

M. - I thought we were the only ones who had to deal with this problem! My 5 year old daughter started this exact same thing about a year ago. Anytime the wind blows she has to cover (literally will sit or lay on the object)anything that might blow away and cries uncontrollably until you take it inside. It's mostly her toys she is worried about. She doesn't mind if we are outside, just her things can't be. I really don't know what to say about this because we haven't figured it out either. I'm looking forward to hearing what others have to say. We do acknowledge that she is afraid and try to talk her through it, also helping her take her toys in. At first we didn't and just told her to stop and everything would be fine. I figure this is a phase and to acknowledge she is scared is better then to brush it off. I also talk to her about why she feels this way, did she see a movie with a tornado, etc. I know she did watch news coverage on Katrina a few years back and thought maybe seeing all of that devastation bothered her. Way to go mom! I thought I was being good about sharing with her what is happening around us, but maybe it wasn't a good idea. I just figure for now I will continue to talk her through the anxiety and hopefully it won't be an issue at some point. I know we don't mention the wind when it does blow and we are outside as not to draw attention to it and sometimes she doesn't even notice it herself. We just keep her distracted and she is fine. Hopefully both our children get over this soon! M.

I haven't had the wind issue, but my daughter was deathly afraid of bugs. I think you could use a similar technique we used with the wind. Introduce him to the wind in a safe environment. Have him look at things blowing in the wind through the window so that he isn't in the wind. Point out the wind and show him all of the neat things it does. If this is still too scary for him, start out some cartoons that have a windy scene and watch them with him. Point out the wind and talk about what it does. Act like its very interesting. Make sure he is in a very secure environment. Increase his exposure little bit by little bit.

My daughter used to scream and cry whenever she saw a fly or anything that looked like a bug. We used this method with her and now she is fine with bugs. It took a long time, but it was worth the effore.

Exactly the same thing happened when my son was 3.5. Even after trying all these things, no change until about a yr. later after winter, he grew out of it and forgot. It is kindof funny when you think of how scared they are, write it in his baby book. He will grow out of it and in the meantime good luck with your patience. I struggled with mine.

Hi M.,
Educating him about wind in a non-threatening way and modeling for him that you feel safe in the wind will be helpful. One of my sons had several fears show up over a period of time. We found that these fears cleared up spontaneously when we worked on building up his immune system by clearing numerous allergies. It was as if his body's defenses were on overload and that affected his ability to handle perceived threats to his safety. Also, we found that EFT (tapping) was extremely helpful for eliminating anxiety and irrational fears. You can learn more about EFT at emofree.com--it's free. Children respond extremely well to tapping. It's a great little tool to help deal with fears.
Good luck!
B.

Your situation sounds a lot like my son when he was that age. I am glad to say that he will most likely grow out of it....but it is difficult to go through. What I did with my son was talk about his fears, address his concerns of safety and never told him to "tough-en up". It took YEARS before he was truly over it but he got better each time the weather appeared unpredictable in his young view. Good luck!!

This happened to my son only he was older: started when he was 7 and ended when he was 9 or 10. My son did the same screaming and freaking out when the wind would start to blow and a storm would move in. We ended up not fighting it as his fear was very real to him. We established a safe place in our house (the master bedroom closet: an internal space with no windows, one door and a light) where our son could go and hang out when the weather was scary. We also read books and watched TV shows about weather: not the horrible storms that wreck havoc, but more sedate programs about weather in our area. We also visited the National Weather Center (there's one in our town) and had the weather man talk about the weather systems in our area and what can happen. Our son was afraid of tornados; the weather man showed him how tornados can't occur where we live. That helped a bit. The real improvement came when we simply accepted his fear, didn't try to reason it away, but also didn't completely change our lives for it. Once he realized that life was going on outside the closet and he might be missing something, he gradually grew out of the fear. Best wishes, friend. Just be confident and strong for your son. That's the best role modeling you can do.

My daughter had a similar reaction when we set up a fan in her room. She refused to stay in her room and cried when we tried to put her to bed.

We ended up sitting down with her asking her why it was scary. We turned the fan off and showed it to her, then turned it on and let her feel the breeze. My DH also showed her how to make funny voices in the fan and how it turned off and on.

We found it was helpful to her to have her tell us why she was scared and then we showed her that the fan wouldn't hurt her.

Perhaps on a day that is mildly breezy, take him outside and ask him why the wind is scary. Then show him how good it feels and that it doesn't hurt.

Also show him the fun he can have with the breeze. Toss a leaf in the air and let him see it move, or use a ribbon on a stick and let him see it flutter in the breeze. Or buy him a pinwheel and show him how it only moves if there is a breeze.

Have you considered having some energetic work done with him? A soul retrieval for the part of himself that was terrified in that windstorm would work wonders - find yourself a really good and ethical person trained especially for this - I recommend the work of The Four WInds

I don't have any real advice, my 7 year old son, was that way and still is, but his comes from a love of science shows, a good thing right? Except they show the bad that storms can do! I just reassure and don't fall into his "hystarics". We had a really big wind/dust storm come through a day or two ago and he couldn't do his homework cause he was really upset about what could happen. So I went and stood in it for like 5 minutes.....not fun I had dirt in my eyes and my allergies screaming at me.....anyways when I cam e in I aked him if I was ok and he said yes, that helped a little but really I haven't found the one thing that works. And I still can not convince him that a hurricane will not happen in Idaho....

Good Luck!

The first thing that came to mind is to start talking about the wind as if it's something you LIKE. "I hope the wind blows today, it feels so good in my hair." "I sure wish there was a nice breeze to cool my face."

If you know anyone one else who was at the soccer game, have them get into a conversation with you (so he can over hear) about how funny that day was.

If you're a religious person, you can talk to your son about Heavenly Father and how He's in control. You could talk about wind as a gift and sometimes we get a bit more than we asked for, just like sometimes he pours more milk than he means to...or something like that.

I'd suggest not forcing the issue but not catering to his fear either. So, unless you need to go somewhere, you are already out, etc...don't make a big deal of him "getting over it" because then he'll feel the need to protect his right to feel what he feels.

So if you're going to go somewhere, you can offer to have a prayer that he'll be brave when the wind blows, you can affirm your knowledge that he's uncertain of the wind right now but that you're right here and will hold his hand if it blows, etc....but I'd avoid pushing him into the wind or sending the message that he's silly or being ridiculous or not a big boy.

I have to say, with the number of children I have, it never ceases to amaze me how and what a child can find to fear. lol

Let's hope this is something he just simply grows out of in a few months!!! But, if not, ... I know three adults that suffer from anxiety and two of them say that the wind is very difficult for them. You MAY be looking at something bigger than a normal 3yr old's fear of something... or you may not.

I have a 7yr old that I believe suffers from anxiety, and this episode seems to be similar to one we had with fire. A house caught fire down the street when she was five, and her fears of leaving the house, going to sleep, everyone getting hurt, etc. became debilitating to her. NO amount of talking, making plans of action, fire drills, cuddling, ignoring, avoiding the issue, or anything else worked. Even when we weren't at home she was afraid the house would burn down while we were gone. You CAN'T talk down their fears!!! The fear is real to them, even if obsurd to you. You can only empower them through experiences.

What I am trying to say by this example is that I tried everything I could! I talked to the school counsellor and I started some anxiety therapies. I also put her on vit B12 mouth losengers (to help with sense of overall wellbeing). I started snuggling with her a LOT at times other than when she was afraid (physical touch - her love language).

Anxiety, I learned, is about power. When someone loses their power (to fear, life experience, or anything else) they feel out of control. My daughter felt out of control in her emotions about fire (and was). We tried to help her feel in control of other things in her life. Went through a book for children about anxiety (this started the road to recovery), bought CDs, etc. She came through it after months of work. I haven't heard anything about fire in a long, long time. I still have to comfort her a lot more than my other kids. She deals with most things well, but the underlying problem of anxiety is still there. Her little brain just goes through scenerios and she gets anxious and scared by things my other 3 kids never give a second thought to.

If he doesn't outgrow this, my advice is to research anxiety in children, find a therapist, learn all you can, and do all you can. The sooner you learn about your child, the better chance he has of growing up with coping skills to enable him to have a completely normal, healthy life :) Focus on how he can help himself.

For right now, give him the minimal comfort he needs (he does need to know you are there to help him). Show him how YOU feel powerful even when the wind blows, and as he gets bigger HE will feel this way too (this way he feels that he can eventually feel strong against something like wind), but for right now it is okay that he is scared. He needs to feel secure in himself, that he isn't bad for feeling scared. Show him how you do things (roll model) like, I'm not going to look at the trees leaves blow, or I'll just turn around so I don't feel the wind in my ears, or whatever it is that may bug him, or I'm going to use the wind and let it blow the wind from my face. Or even praise him for thinking to come inside when it's windy (that gives him strength that he can choose well, that he can make good decisions). Later, when it isn't windy explain that there are other things we can do too... These are just some ideas. GOOD LUCK, AND GOD BLESS

To you and to those who have responded, it sounds like you have kids like my son. He has these ideas in his head that aren't quite right, but you have to dig in deep to get to the root of the problem.
Last week we went to The Little Gym open house. After about an hour of gymnastic ecstasy, my son suddenly got grumpy and wouldn't move. I sat down with him and talked, and he said he hated The Little Gym and never wanted to come back again. If I didn't know him, I would have taken him at his word. After much sensitive questioning, I got it out of him that he wanted to learn more things to do on each apparatus. So I told him we'd sign him up for a free class. But he freaked out about that, too. After about 10 more minutes, and right before we left, I got it out of him that he didn't want a CLASS because he thought they were going to set up chairs on the big red mat and have to sit still and listen and raise their hands.
So after some more talking and discussing his concern with an employee (who told him that they NEVER set up chairs and make them hold still), he agreed to sign up for a class.
But when we got home, he would'nt tell his dad about it, and said he didn't want to go back to the free class. So finally I told him that his swimming lessons were a class (bringing it down to something he'd already experienced) and that the Little Gym classes are really more like lessons than a class. Finally he understood and now he's excited to go to his class.
Sometimes it's tiring to have to do that much talking, but wow, it really works!
Seriously, I would tell him what wind is. Explain it all. Tell him that when there's hot air and cold air, the hot air wants to go cool off with the cold air, so it rushes over to it. And that's what wind is. It's just air moving around a bit. If that helps, then great.
If not, go further, especially for the boy who is freaked out about hurricanes. Explain the factors that create bad wind, like hurricanes. Tell him that hurricanes start off the coast of Africa and show him where that is. Show him how they go across the ocean to the Gulf of Mexico and that they fade out after they hit land. Ask him if he thinks it could get all the way to Idaho. If he's freaked out about tornadoes, teach him about how tornadoes form, and where they form. Because tornadoes actually could occur here, tell him how unlikely it is, and teach him the signs to look for (like if there's no storm clouds, there can't be a tornado.)
I agree with teaching your 3 year old some fun things to do in the wind, and show him how when he's hot, the wind can cool him down. Tell him that it blows seeds from trees and flowers to other places so they can grow, dries your clothes hanging out on the line, helps birds fly faster, anything positive you can about it!
Knowledge is power, especially to kids. And I loved a job description of what a mom does--it includes psychologist and therapist. Put on your counselor hats, ladies!

Hi M.,
My son always responded to science when it came to his fears. Even as young as three, buy books that talk about what creates wind, what it's benifits are, ie. helps spring showers move across the earth to water all the plants and provide water for all the animals, helps blow pollen around, natures way of planting new plants, if you listen you can hear the trees whisper, listen to the difference in animals you hear when the wind blows.... Make it something to investigate, something that is interesting.

Buy a kite and take out on a not too windy day but one with enough for the kite to succeed. Blow bubbles on a breezy day and watch them move....
Have fun and I'm sure he will move past this quickly.
SarahMM

Maybe you could show him some videos or pictures that shows he can do fun things in the wind, like flying kites, or wind sailing.

The wind scared me a a child, and to this day I can't breath when it blows directly in my face. My fear was attatched to my weight. People would say, "You're so skinny you'll blow away in the wind." I outgrew that fear by 10 or so. I was also scared of stairs with spaces in between them becasue someone told me that I was so skinny I'd fall through the cracks. Maybe he heard something on TV or somewhere talking about a hurricain or a horrible wind storm and he scared that you'll be blown away!