Scared of Thunderstorms?

So, there you sit in the family room all ready to enjoy family movie night and you hear it, a distant rumble of thunder. You quickly attempt to turn the volume up on the television hoping Junior doesn’t notice.  Too late! As you glance over you see the fear in his eyes and you know that this family movie night is a bust. Ta da! Experienced mom to the rescue! My son used to “freak out” when he heard the rumble of thunder, until one day divine inspiration struck and I solved the problem once and for all – we made a louder storm…right there in our kitchen. As the storm approached I shouted, “Hey, I have an idea, let’s make our own thunder storm inside louder than the one God is making outside!”  I then directed him to grab a chair and we went from chair to chair around the family dinner table banging them up and down.  We then got pots and pans out of the cupboards and banged them together.  That, coupled with flipping the light switches on and off and we had a “who can make a louder thunder storm” competition with God!  We would end up laughing and dancing around the kitchen having quite the silly time – newsflash, kids really like when mom acts like a goofball! After a few thunderstorms he lost interest in the game, but for years every now and then he’d want to give it a reprieve or he would just want to sit and talk about how much fun it used to be make a louder thunder storm than God. Bottom line, no more fear of thunderstorms, memory making with mom and relationship building with God.  (OK, maybe that last one is a stretch, but God and doing all of life with Him is one of the ways that we feel close to the Lord…even thunderstorm competitions!)