When I married my husband, he had grandchildren, and they were raised to be terrified of storms. Then they had a tornado to hit there house, and it made it twice as bad.
When the little one would come over and a thunderstorm was coming up, he would panic.
I have always loved thunderstorms and bad weather has never bothered me, even as a child. When my parents thought a tornado was coming, they would load us up in the car because our house sat up at the top of a hill, and was not very protective. Dad figured that away from the house would be safer between two hills where the road was cut away. I always thought it was great fun and it was the only time we all got along.
When the grandson would get so upset, I told him we would have storm party. My front porch faces the south, and I turned the air off and and I opened the double front doors and we pulled two comfortable chairs as the front porch shielded us. I popped some pop corn and we watched the dark clouds get close and watched the lightening and I told him it was like fireworks, and the thunder was like giants bowling. The thunder rolling was when they threw the balls, and when the lightening struck, it meant they had a strike. Usually before it comes, there is no wind and the corn field is so long and I can see so far off. I can watch the clouds building in the next county. So he was excited as the clouds came in and pointed at the different lightening bolts and flashes of light like he was the first one to see them.
He would want to spend the night when he thought a storm was coming up so we could have storm party, or if he did spend the night, he would say, "I hope it storms tonight." He would grin and hang on my arm with a big grin on his face.
But if it stormed and he was not here, his Mother would call panicking and making everyone terrified in the house. The kids had no chance. I told him that he would have to be the strong one in the house and calm everyone down as it was seldom that a house was hit.
He asked me why I wasn't scared and I told him that it was seldom that a house was hit, and usually, people are OK, as he saw that he was OK. I said, this has been going on all my life and look at all the people around you, they are old and tornadoes didn't kill them. That made sense to him. It was a goofy thing to say, but he accepted it.
Also I told him that I was already thinking about what I would build if the tornado got the house. I would build the share croppers house I had dreamed of. We have a friend that lives in one, and he knew the one I was talking about. So, I helped him get past his fear of bad weather. It was fun to see him go from a panic mode to enjoying it.
He was afraid of the dark and I worked on that one, but I don't think I put much of a dent on that one. We would go walking when the moon was out and you could see really well. He would take a flash light and I would have him turn it off because I couldn't see when he had it on as it looked like the sun was shining. Sometimes I would take him down the road on the 4Wheeler and we would get off. One time I took him to a cemetery and wanted to show him a tombstone, He had a flashlight, but I told him we couldn't turn it on until we got to the tombstone because someone could see us. It was moon lit. It was a tombstone with a Charolais bull engraved on a black marble stone. It was so pretty. He told everyone about it, but still, he just couldn't get over his fear of the dark. His Mother implanted that fear in him too.
When the little one would come over and a thunderstorm was coming up, he would panic.
I have always loved thunderstorms and bad weather has never bothered me, even as a child. When my parents thought a tornado was coming, they would load us up in the car because our house sat up at the top of a hill, and was not very protective. Dad figured that away from the house would be safer between two hills where the road was cut away. I always thought it was great fun and it was the only time we all got along.
When the grandson would get so upset, I told him we would have storm party. My front porch faces the south, and I turned the air off and and I opened the double front doors and we pulled two comfortable chairs as the front porch shielded us. I popped some pop corn and we watched the dark clouds get close and watched the lightening and I told him it was like fireworks, and the thunder was like giants bowling. The thunder rolling was when they threw the balls, and when the lightening struck, it meant they had a strike. Usually before it comes, there is no wind and the corn field is so long and I can see so far off. I can watch the clouds building in the next county. So he was excited as the clouds came in and pointed at the different lightening bolts and flashes of light like he was the first one to see them.
He would want to spend the night when he thought a storm was coming up so we could have storm party, or if he did spend the night, he would say, "I hope it storms tonight." He would grin and hang on my arm with a big grin on his face.
But if it stormed and he was not here, his Mother would call panicking and making everyone terrified in the house. The kids had no chance. I told him that he would have to be the strong one in the house and calm everyone down as it was seldom that a house was hit.
He asked me why I wasn't scared and I told him that it was seldom that a house was hit, and usually, people are OK, as he saw that he was OK. I said, this has been going on all my life and look at all the people around you, they are old and tornadoes didn't kill them. That made sense to him. It was a goofy thing to say, but he accepted it.
Also I told him that I was already thinking about what I would build if the tornado got the house. I would build the share croppers house I had dreamed of. We have a friend that lives in one, and he knew the one I was talking about. So, I helped him get past his fear of bad weather. It was fun to see him go from a panic mode to enjoying it.
He was afraid of the dark and I worked on that one, but I don't think I put much of a dent on that one. We would go walking when the moon was out and you could see really well. He would take a flash light and I would have him turn it off because I couldn't see when he had it on as it looked like the sun was shining. Sometimes I would take him down the road on the 4Wheeler and we would get off. One time I took him to a cemetery and wanted to show him a tombstone, He had a flashlight, but I told him we couldn't turn it on until we got to the tombstone because someone could see us. It was moon lit. It was a tombstone with a Charolais bull engraved on a black marble stone. It was so pretty. He told everyone about it, but still, he just couldn't get over his fear of the dark. His Mother implanted that fear in him too.
