Our Kid is Suddenly Afraid of Rain!

Last night, I came home to one of the saddest sights, one that I've never encountered in all of my years as a mom.  Walking into my bedroom, I spotted Mark lying in our bed, while Chip, our seven-year-old son, was curled up and sleeping next to him.  Usually, I would find it sweet to see one of my babies sleeping, but it was only 5:30 in the afternoon, and something just felt...wrong.

I asked Mark what was wrong with Chip, because at first I thought it must have been because he was exhausted from finishing his first week of school.  His brain had grown so much that he was worn out and just needed to crash.

That wasn't it. 

Next, I asked Mark if Chip had thrown up or was sick.  That's usually the only other reason that my usually rambunctious youngster would be in bed before dinner.

That wasn't it either.

Mark looked at me blankly and said, "I sent you a text." 

Gosh, would he just tell me what happened?  I had been out driving in a very raucous thunderstorm with Trixie for the past twenty minutes, so of course I didn't know I had a text.

"Seriously, what happened?"

Mark just whispered to me, "He's scared."

Chip was under the blankets, sinking in the middle of our huge bed, looking like the meekest I'd ever seen him, clinging for dear life to a flashlight.  He was scooted up so close to Mark, there wasn't an inch of mattress space between them.

I quietly crept to my side of the bed and crawled under the covers, too.  Chip immediately felt my presence, and he turned to face me. He nuzzled under my arms and squeezed me as tightly as he could.  I'm talking about my child who will only give me hugs when they're on his terms and usually wipes off my kisses.  It was one of the longest, strongest hugs he has ever given to me.  He laid in my arms, warm, breathing, and waiting for some reassurance from his mom.  I could feel his fear, and I heard the tremble in his voice as he tried to describe what he was feeling.

He was afraid of the thunder.  He was afraid of the rain.  To us it was irrational, but to him, it was real.  I knew he was serious, because I had been noticing a growing fear of rain from him over the past several weeks, as we have had quite a few storms.  I even described it to a friend of mine earlier that morning as "debilitating" to him.  After his practice was canceled because of a thunderstorm, he declared that he planned to give up soccer, the sport he loves, because it will probably rain too much again. 

Suddenly, he had been scared to be in the car when it rained.  He was terribly nervous to see the ominous clouds roll through, bright skies turning dark before so many summer storms. 

The boom of thunder, the bright flash of lightning, the pounding drops of water.  All of it...left him panicked.

No matter how many times we tell him that it's just water, or we're covered by walls and roofs, or the thunder is just sound, he still worries.  I cannot remember the last time our power has been out from a storm, but it must have made an impression on him.  That was why he was cradling a flashlight in bed like it was a teddy bear.  Why is my seven year old suffering from this abrupt fear of rainstorms? 

I don't have an answer now.  I know we cannot feed into his fear.  I know we have work to do in order to help him through this sudden phobia.

For last night, though, we didn't tackle the fear, we just used as much comfort and love as we could to pull through the storm.  The three of us laid in my bed for a little while...just the three of us.  That never happens.  Chip snuggled in my arms in a way he hasn't done since he was a sneaky four-year-old, stopping in my room for extra cuddles on his way down before breakfast.

Reluctantly, I peeled myself from under the toasty nest we had created in the bed.   Trixie helped me find some headphones, and we brought them to Chip, attached to a device all set up for him to play some games in bed. We couldn't make the rain or thunder stop, but we did our best to muffle the sound.  We did what we could to comfort him through the fear.  I walked downstairs to make dinner, leaving those two guys in our big bed together, under the covers...tuning out the thunder, yet tuned in to each other. 

Father and son. 

One scared and one strong. 

Thank goodness for dads and Minecraft.

 

 

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