I told my kids that it was the clouds clapping.

My 6 yr old loves playing bowling on the wii and loves the few parties she’s been to at the bowling alley so i told her “it sounds like giants bowling in the sky, listen?” .
Then we would listen and decided how many pins hot knocked over and the biggest noises became exciting because that was all the pins! And tge little noises were laughable because that giant isnt very good at bowling.
This took one conversation and an afternoon of laughter and silliness after which she said “i wish therr was more thunder”

When my kids hated thunder we distracted them. We got our stomping feet going up & down the hall signing “I hear thunder. I hear thunder. Hark don’t you? Hark don’t you? Pitter patter rain drops I’m wet through. So are you.” Making thunder noises stomping. Another option is we told our kids that it was angels in heaven 10 pin bowling & the thunder was when the angels got a strike.

It is of course a scary thing for little ones.
Just make it fun and build a safe hut. Cover the kitchen table with blankets and place a rug inside it with loads of pillows and cushions and then get one of the wonderful LED lights and both climb inside and read books during the storm.
If you are looking at a stormy week then just leave the hut up and eat at a camp table or off a picnic rug in the lounge.
Storms become a fun event then and a positive memory. All my kids remember and loved the times we made huts.

When my boys were little if it was at night I’d give them both a torch, turn all the lights off, open all the blinds and take them to the best room to see the lightening. tThey had the torch so could see around the room and the awesome light show took away their sacredness. Get them to count how long after the lightening to when they hear the thunder. Kind of occupies their mind while waiting for the sound.

Give them a cheap camera and ask them to see if they can take a photo of the lightning. (from inside) Also play a game of who can sing louder than the thunder. Also make a game of how high you can count before the next thunder clap. (goodluck though as I still don’t like them)

God bowling.

We seem to have these violent storms each year about this time and I only remember this because I told my 4 babies this story and now tell my 10 grandbabies.

Santa doesn’t mean to be noisy, loud and scary but Xmas is just around the corner and he must drag out all the presents and sort them out for Xmas Eve. After all, he only has 1 night to deliver to all his precious kiddies. When Santa drags or drops something we should be excited because it just might be our pressie.

My daughter who is almost 3, is scared of thunder too. We put a dvd on in her room so it drowns out the noise & I have the TV going (if reception is available) or the radio/cd going in the lounge room. If the power goings out… cuddles 😉

Another suggestion might be to turn hearing thunder into a game. With my children, we get excited (i.e. Turn it into a positive exciting thing) because we get to sing the \”I hear thunder\” song (I generally say \”ooh, I can hear thunder, should we sing the thunder song?\”). We learned this one at Gymbaroo. You do the actions as you sing:
\”I hear thunder, I hear thunder (clap hands on knees, or cross arms over chest to clap hands on opposite shoulders);
hark don\’t you? Hark don\’t you? (Cup hand over ear in listening pose);
pitter patter raindrops, pitter patter raindrops (wiggle fingers and move them down to imitate rain falling);
I\’m wet through (shake hands as if flicking water off them),
so are you (point to child)\”
The good thing about the actions in this song is you can do them one handed, so you can be giving your boy a big reassuring cuddle whilst you sing the song. I wish you the best of luck!

I used to be terrified of thunderstorms but my parents took some chairs, my brothers and I out onto the veranda and sat with us chatting and playing games. If we got scared they made it funny, making us laugh before having a chance to run away. Might be something to try

Desensitise them by looking them up on youtube and teaching them how the rain grows our food and play thunderstorms on a cd , gradually getting louder , also train them for power outs by having lights out candle time where u can play with some toys etc it will all be less scary when they know whats going on

Reassurance and patience. Make sure he knows that it’s okay to have fears but explain that thunderstorms won’t hurt him and that the noise is the worst part. We have a book about this I’ll find it and post the title for you.

Has someone been fearful of them in his presence? It seems he has learned this fear. You may like to have a wall chart calender and each day mark it sunny, windy, cloudy, rainy etc. When a storm is brewing, have a discussion about the weather. For you and others make a game of the lightening and how long before the thunder clap and how long before the lightening again. The lightening is God or Santa taking photos and this is the flash. The thunder can be God or Santa ten pin bowling. Just be lighthearted about it all. Watch the storm, it brings much needed rain and sometimes too much. Look for rainbows. I know many adults who are so afraid of storms and have panic attacks, real phobic reactions. So teach your little one that storms clear the air, the rain washes the dust of trees and rocks and mountains and can sometimes be very destructive but keep it age appropriate, he needs to learn safety as he does with many tings in life, not to turn on a tap during a storm or use a phone. As her gets older teach the importance of other safety measures.

Your child’s hearing may be sensitive. I know a child who doesn’t like loud music or some kitchen appliances because of the noise. If he sees anybody getting one out to use. he will say “loud noise” cover his ears and runs to the other end of the house. He will cover his ears if the volume of the TV is too high. His ears have been checked a few times by a GP. There is no signs of infection. Would music he loves act as a diversion ?

I tell my little 2.5 year old that the clouds are talking. I tell him the clouds are saying Hello and they don’t get to talk very often. When they do, they talk all the time. I get him to say hello back. He seems to be calmer. Otherwise, he does freak out a bit.