How Do Your Youngsters Handle Lightning?

A friend mentioned the thunderstorms in her area this summer and then reminisced about overcoming her fear when she was a child.  She learned to have a healthy respect for lightning, from a safety viewpoint, but she didn’t panic every time a storm was predicted.

Image: sxc.hu

This brought back memories of my early fear of this natural phenomenon. (Remember this is Nature Theme Week in my Parenting posts, so lightning ties in!)  However, Mother’s calmness and prayers, her explanation of how and why lightning occurs, gave me a sense of peace.

I tried to impart this to my daughter and grandchildren, so they respected lightning and desired to practice safety, yet could enjoy its beauty.  I recall living in Texas, where lighting flashed across the wide expanse of sky…impressing me so much that I painted pictures of it.

How do you teach your youngsters to respect lightning and its dangers, yet not live in fear of it?

• Learn about lighting’s origins
• Realize there are dangers in lightning
• Practice lightning safety
• Draw pictures of lightning and thunderstorms
• Learn about lightning legends and folklore
• Check out a lightning display at a science museum