"I Have A Hurricane In My Head?!"

My nephew is four and becoming aware of the hurricanes we sometimes have here in South Florida. In fact, he’s terrified of them and even has nightmares. I didn’t know this, however, when I went to babysit him one evening. He wanted to stand on a piece of furniture and press on a particularly flimsy window in his living room, so he could wave good-bye to his mom. When I explained that he shouldn’t push on the window because it could weaken it and cause a problem if there was a hurricane, he freaked out. That began at least a half-hour of discussion about hurricanes. No matter how I tried to answer his questions and comfort him, he became more frightened. He was terrified that a hurricane was approaching, in spite of my telling him that wasn’t the case. Finally, out of desperation, I told him that his fear of an approaching hurricane was just in his head; he didn’t need to worry. His response was a terrified,

“I have a hurricane in my head?!”

It took me 15 minutes to calm him down after that one!


Carla Chadwick
WordPlayBlog.com
VintageHolidayCrafts.com

originally posted on 6-30-08