Daughter Afraid of Rain

You need to find out why she is afraid. My 3yo started something similar lately. She is convinced if it starts to storm that her daddy will be hit by lightening and killed. I have no idea where she got that, but we are working on teaching her about lightning and how to be safe so that she won't be so afraid anymore.

My neice used to be like you describe. We told her that the thunder was God moving his furninture around. The lightning was him turning his lights off and on in heaven. And the rain was his tears sometimes for the sad things that happen here on earth and at other times they are tears of joy for all the good things people do. She was never afraid of storms again. Actually she just told her five year old daughter this about a year ago. God Bless you all!

Someone may have scared her about how "bad" or "dangerous" the weather is... Please be calm and tell her she can first tell you any of her fears or concerns...and that this will not last forever. It is safe to be inside your house or car. It is safe to be at school; but a good idea not to walk in an open field or sit under a tree. Perhaps a children's book on weather will help alleviate her fears sooner than later.
An adult friend of mine is so nervous when the thunder begins...I'll have to ask what started the whole phobia.
You can email me ____@____.com and I'll get you two in touch.

I bet she saw something on TV that was scary about bad weather! That happened to my daughter once. Hers wasn't as extreme as your daughters sounds but mine grew out of it. Lots of talking to her about how she will be safe, etc.

Try dancing in the rain or jumping in puddles (as long as it's not lightening). My kids and I have wonderful memories of dancing in the rain. You can even go out and celebrate the storm being over, jumping in puddles after the rain is over. Make fun times of thunderstorms. Lite a hurricane lamp or one of those battery operated camping lanterns (walmart has them for $5) and play games. In other words, do something fun when it rains. Make it fun instead of scary. When my son was very young he was afraid of the vacuum. We let him ride on it and then got him a little one of his own and walla, he wasn't bothered by it anymore. Good luck!

I would say give her more information about weather. There are some good books out there for kids. My youngest son is fascinated with weather (not scared, sort of obsessed). Of course my husband is a meteorologist....

One responder said she might have seen something on TV - my guys sometimes watch storm stories on the weather channel and I think those are too "scary" for kids. So try to find out what exactly she's afraid of (floods? look up how often there are floods in your area) and try to give her more information and maybe tell her what she can do to keep safe.

She can probably understand a good deal but keep it simple. And as some others said, you could make it sort of exciting if you feel that way yourself.

I think we have taught our boys a respect for the weather without freaking them out too much.

I'm scared of rain just keep her near you or in a safe place, try to pay music, turn on the TV or talk about school try to take her mind off the rain. Good luck :)!

Our children watch the news with us... we may not relieze that they are paying attention but they do. My daughter swears everytime it rains we are getting a TWISTER. She may have heard something on the news or TV that has made her little active mind scared of the weather. Talk to her, explain that it rains and the weather changes

Never heard of this.could someone have scared her by saying something negative about the rain.sounds strange.this may need a counsler's opinion or advice.interesting ill be listening to what others say.lots of luck and many blessings for you and child.god bless you.C.

If she can discuss her fear with you maybe you can help her shift her thinking - especially if she can remember where it originates from. Otherwise, she may need to see a therapist who uses mind-body therapies to help clear fear and anxiety - hypnosis, energy psychology (e.g. EFT, Psych-K, TFT), NLP, EMDR, reiki, acupressure, etc.

Regards,
JS
www.phinsights.com

When my brother and I were little, my mom says we were both frightened of storms. My mom would put a bench under the roof overhang for us to sit on, or we would sit by the window if it was raining too hard. Then we would ooh and ahhh at the "light show". We also talked about the shapes the clouds made and how fast they were moving. I don't recall ever being scared, so I guess it helped. With my own 4, I also ohh and ahh at the way storms look. If the power goes out (or we shut the lights off during the storm for fun) we will sit in a circle and tell stories with a flashlight. The kids think it's great fun and the storm doesn't bother them as much. We live in southern Florida, known for hurricanes. So we are always prepared, but but being relaxed and making it fun for the kids keeps them from being worried. Also, with my oldest two, we discussed the water cycle. My oldest thought that was really cool and talks about it every time it rains.

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It's quite understandable really. She is at the age where she understands that Mommy and Daddy have NO control over the weather, and that the weather is a powerful (and yes downright scary) force. It doesn't have feelings, it just IS. That is a scary thing for a 6 yr old to contemplate.

You could pull out some statistics maybe (real plain ones... # of people struck by lightening last year in YOUR state, number of tornados in YOUR state, number of flood related drownings in YOUR state, etc and compare it to the number of times it rained in YOUR state, or even in your town. It might help her see how UNlikely it is for something bad to happen.

Also, you can try to give her happy warm feelings about rain. I remember as a kid getting out the sleeping bags in the living room with my brothers and watching TV and reading books and things. We even made tents out of blankets/sleeping bags draped from the back of the sofa to chairs pulled out into the room, and things like that. It was all cozy. It'd be SUPER easy to do today-- pop in her favorite DVD, make some popcorn and snuggle down with her under a blanket tent.. lay on pillows on the floor!

Make it a special time, and try not to focus on the rain itself. Make it about spending time with HER. Tell her what YOU like about the rain. I personally LOVE the rain... I still love being under a blanket on the sofa with a good book when it is raining outside.
I don't care much for lightening storms... but as long as everyone is away from the windows.. it isn't bothersome unless it is REALLY REALLY CLOSE!

Just remember that if YOU behave stressed, or you worry about the weather, she is going to hone in on that vibe, and she will be more worried. Try to be relaxed, and make jokes about something unrelated, act silly, and if she still is freaked out, be matter of fact about the facts... "it is very unlikely that anything bad will happen, even if we went outside and stood in the rain (except we'd get really wet and have extra laundry to do). That doesn't mean we stand in a big open field during a lightning storm, because that isn't what you do in a lightning storm. You stay inside away from windows. But we don't need to hide from just rain. It's just water. Our bodies are 95% water." (isn't that the right percentage? lol). You get the idea. Maybe you could take her outside in a light rain (when it is just rain and no lightning, of course) with an umbrella and let her splash in puddles. My kids LOVED doing that when they were younger. It is messy.. but it's a memory maker... and if she will do it, it might help her see another side to the rain.
Hope this helps~