My son is scared of thunderstorms

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My aspie son he's 10 is terrified of thunderstorms. We try everything to calm him down when they come up. Living in Florida we have them frequently. He starts from one door to the next looking outside, watches the weather on TV, he sees the warnings on the TV and he just goes into a melt down that last until the storm passes. I just don't know what else I can do to comfort him. He worries about the weather everyday. I've tried to explain the diferences between warnings & watches that we have for tornados & he wants to know why? I don't always have the answers for him. He will also get mad at the weather man if he says its going to storm and it doesn't. He says he's lying to everyone. We had some bad weather last night and he got ticked because I couldn't give him an answer to a question he had. I say to him all the time study the weather go online read about the weather. I think he would be a good meterologist. If anyone has any other comforting advice for him would be great.
Thanks...........

No advice but we have some of the same issues here in Tucson-lightning capital of the world. What's really bad is that my son and dog both have grown to fear thunder and lightning progressively. They both were born here but after a stint in Indiana with tornadoes, rolling thunder and never ending storms, they just hate it. My dog has broken into the house during a storm and insists on hiding in the living room (as opposed to the kitchen near the window).
I was also very fearful of thunderstorms. We would get them in Northern CA in the middle of the night in summer. So, you'd go to bed with the stars shining, clear skies and BAM! at 1am there would be a storm right on top of your house. Super loud.

I grew out of it and now love most storms. I never got used to the Indiana storms (and hated that state anyways) but I love the monsoons in Tucson.

Oh, yes, I was deathly afraid of t-storms growing up in Ohio. We had a basement where I would retreat to, even when the storms were rather light. My fear/anxiety peaked around age 10-11. After that, I did not have melt-downs or insomnia. It is hard to describe why I was afraid; it was not like an audio/typical sensory overload. The storms just had the uncontrollable power or force in them that made me feel very small and exposed.

My suggestion would be to have a "safe place", like a closet or bathroom set aside with stuff where he can go during a storm. He can take important things with him and a transistor radio to follow the storm. He might be helped through meeting a meteorologist and talking about the weather patterns in the area.

~Anna

give him music to listen to, via headphones and turn off the t.v....

I can relate to this. I used to be terrified of storms too, to the point where I'd start crying and running around, telling my mum to close all the windows and lock the doors, draw the curtains and even turn the power off, including the lights. I was that scared of storms that I would endure the darkness even though I was (and still am) severely phobic of the dark. Bare in mind, I live in the UK, so our weather isn't too much to worry about, so I don't know what scared me so much.

Nowadays, though, I love the weather, and I actually want to be a tornado chaser, of all things

Try getting him interested in the weather a bit more, and maybe his fear will gradually grow into an interest, like it did with me? Maybe take him to the library and find some childrens books that explain about the weather and that answer the questions he has?

Many Many years ago
my daughter was afraid of thunderstorms.

To deal with this situation, I grabbed my daddy blanket (flannel), and when the storm rolled in,
i wrapped her up, like a pappose, with just her eyes and nose sticking out, and took her out on
the front porch. I sat on the swing, and she was safe in daddy's arms; sucking on her fingers,
and everything was alright with the world. Thought the thunder roared, and the lightening flashed,
the air was cool, and nicely humid, and she was safe in daddy's arms.

Next time we had a thunderstorm, zoom, she was upstairs in a flash, grabbed the bubbie and brought it downstairs..... "Wrap me up Daddy," she cried. This tradition went on for a number of years, lol.

Segway to my Evil Boy (the aspie) ; afraid of thunder; scared of lightening...

My daughter says, wrap him up..... give it a try.

So I do, wrap him up, and his eyes peeked out.... it was sooo cute.

We cuddled up on the swing, and not 10 second later, lightening takes out a transformer about 50 feet up the street.

End of cuddling. We never did that again, but he grew out of the fear.

:)

wait for the llightening bolt, and then count with him--1 1000 2 1000 3 1000 4 1000 etc. until the thunder sounds. Explain, beforehand, that as the storm moves away you will be counting longer because there will be more of a gap between when the lightening bolt hits and you hear the thunder. It worked for me and my son--honestly. It's a great distraction and it is empowering for some reason. You can tell when the storm is passing--there is an end to it--maybe some sun even.

good luck.

equinn

So sorry about you son. I'm an NT and the same way - always have been- I hate tornado warnings, thunderstorms, etc. You know how people say" Oh I slept through that storm last night? I'm 47 and never once have I slept through a thunderstorm" I'm up until it's over - that's just the way it is. My mom says I inherited it from her mom because she was the way- fear of thunderstorms is genetic?

Anyway...I have found that since I now have an 11 yr. old son who is very good at picking up on when I am anxious and become the same way I have had to face my fears and remain calm(er) during storms. We do have a basement and when there is a tornado warning I go in the basement-even though my husband laughs at me I don't care -

Just a thought..would logic work with your son in alleviating his fears? Maybe show him statistics about the chances of lightning actually hitting something near him or how many times serious damaged has actually occured in your area? I don't know maybe that would make it worse?

equinn is spot on.

I did that with evil boy, and it digressed into a discussion of speed of sound vs speed of light.
Empowerment is just the ticket.

I think a lot of his fear stems from the bout with hurricanes we had a few years back (we live in FL). It was a very scary time for all. We lost power for a week, trees fell down all around our house it was just a scary time I don't think he quite got past all that. If the power goes out you might as well hang it up he will have a complete and utter "melt down" I'm not big on the lightning part of the storms myself. I just hope he either grows out of the fear or becomes more interested in the weather. Either way would be great. What we do is lay in the bed and talk & pray that the storm passes. That works for a while but he can only lay down for so long before he is wanting to see what it looks like outside (see if storm has passed) Thanks for all the great advice...........

Kimmie, have you ever tried social stories? They work really well with some kids on specific issues like that.

OOooooouch! Timing IS everything in life, after all!

I was terrified of thunderstorms as a child, and so, in a wonderfully planned and thought-out manoeuvre by my parents, we moved to "tornado alley" when I was about 10. No basements there. I spent a lot of storms huddled in a corner of my bedroom with my eyes screwed shut, bathed in sweat, scared out of my mind. They didn't have warning signs on the tv back then. The storms just came. It was particularly unpleasant when one caught me out-of-doors.

Fast forward several decades. I'm still scared to death of thunderstorms. Particularly the sound - it's the loud sound that really unhinges me. The lightening, wind, and clouds are beautiful. And also partly because of having lived in "tornado alley" and having see those things drop out of the sky and destroy. I no longer huddle in a corner cringing, but I do still jump, wince, and have one hell of an adrenaline rush when there's a loud clap of thunder.

My cats are scared of thunder, as well.

My 7yr old Aspie son is also terrified of thunder , high winds etc & I've found what helps him most is listening to his mp3 player , this also works when taking him shopping too.

Just have to say that we had an earthquake the other night (I'm in the UK & not far from thhe epicentre) & although it woke him , after I explained what it was he settled down much quicker than if the washing starts a spincycle & he's in bed.