Strategies to help weather a storm
As parents, we do our best to soothe our children’s troubled lives, but when the unknowns of severe weather unfold and anxiety escalates, many of our tried and true comfort strategies blow out the window.
If a storm hits your region (as it has here in the Northwest), consider these strategies:
1. Try to stay calm. Know that you have prepared the best you could.
2. Read or tell stories if your children are awake.
3. Comfort each other. Snuggle. Hold your children. Ask them to hold you too.
4. Sleep together with blankets on the floor. Create a sleep-over party atmosphere.
5. Serve hot chocolate or provide comfort objects. Give everyone a squeeze ball or clay to help deal with tension.
6.. Sing songs, listen to story tapes on a battery operated player.
7. Talk about your own fear and how you face and overcome it.
8. Use positive imagery. Visualize the end of the storm.
Stay safe!
