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my little sisster always freaks out when a thunderstorm comes, she is 9 and she is sooo scared of T-storms, it gets real annyoing and i want her to stop freakin out everytime 1 comes. How do i get her un afraid, by the way, my parents arent doing anything about it!!!
It’s really hard to do until someone comes to a good understanding of what a thunderstorm is. Try to explain to her that thunder is nothing more than a sound. If it’s the lightning that scares her, reassure her that she will be safe is she is inside of the house or other building, as the lightning would have a very hard time hurting anyone there. If it’s tornadoes, you can tell her that only a very small number of storm produce them, and they don’t usually last very long, so the chance that one would hit there is very very small.
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A phobia can be very difficult to tolerate, both for kids and those around them, especially if the anxiety-producing stimulus (whatever is causing the anxiety) is hard to avoid (e.g., thunderstorms).
Recognize that the fear is real. As trivial as a fear may seem, it feels real and it’s causing her to feel anxious and afraid. Being able to talk about fears helps — words often take some of the power out of the negative feeling. If you talk about it, it can become less powerful.
Parents should look for patterns. If an isolated incident is resolved, don’t make it more significant than it is. But if a pattern emerges that’s persistent or pervasive, you should take action. If you don’t, the phobia is likely to continue to affect her