moosh in indy.

April 6, 2010

Comments Closed-Winner of the giveaway is Angela! Congratulations!

If thunderstorms are not your thing, the Midwest is not the place for you.

You can feel thunderstorms here in your bones.

The lightning will wake you from a dead sleep and the thunder that follows causes you to flail so quickly your bunk mate usually scores a knee to the gonads or a slap to the face.

Once your heart rate is down to a non lethal level your mind wanders to that little kid sleeping all alone on the other side of the house. You wait for it.

*door creaking open* “moooooooom?”

As a kid I walked the curved staircase up to my moms room and curled up on the bare carpet next to her bed, even though she had a king I never dared get in with her. I also scared the snot out of her every morning when her feet hit me instead of carpet. (Sorry mom.)

When the moosh comes in I set up thunder camp on our couch (yes, THAT couch) and give her my softest blankets and pillow to cocoon herself up in. (Why don’t I let her in my bed? A. my bed is at least 4 feet off the ground. B. the moosh is huge, sleeps diagonal and is very kicky in her sleep. C. We’re not insured. See where I’m going with this?)

What do you do? Or what did you do when you were a kid? And if you tell me you were one of those kids that never ever got scared and needed your grownup I’m going to roll my eyes at you. Tell me your brilliant (or utter failure) solutions in a comment and you’ll be entered to win the last amazing bedtime kit from GoodNites, worth over $175 which includes…

2GB Silver iPod Shuffle

Logitech Speakers

$25 iTunes Gift Card

Brookstone Cuddle Blanket (I own THREE of these.)

Patagonia Bag

Remember last week when I told you that entering the Bedtime Theater contest would pay off? Leave another comment that you’ve entered the contest over at bedtimetheater.com and you’ll have five extra entries into the giveaway ( I have ways of knowing so be honest.)

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Thunderstorms are like tofu, or mold. Sure they’re natural and can have their place in the world, but they still strike a bit of fear in me and give me pause. I will pick one random winner from eligible entries Friday, April 9th at midnight EST. You have until April 15th to enter the Bedtime Theater Grand Prize.

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I have partnered with GoodNites for the second year in a row to help make bedtime easier on everyone. I am being compensated for my participation in the Bedtime Theater program and not for promoting a product.

Comments off.

I always turned on the light. No matter if I was scared or it was storming, the light always seemed to help.

I sit up for the entire storm if I’m woken up. I get online and watch the doppler/radar to see where the storm is and if we’ve gotten the worst of it yet. I always do this, no matter what time I have to get up in the morning.

I am still afraid of storms and I am almost 43. Luckily my kids so far did not inherit that trait from me.
I would collect all the cats and dogs that we would have in our house at any given point and make them all sleep with me. When I was in college I was home one weekend and we had tornado threats so I put on my biggest sweatpants and sweatshirt and stuffed my photo albums and all my valuables in the legs of my sweats and up my sweatshirt so that I would have them handy when we had to make a dash to the basement. Imagine the marks I had all over my body when I woke the next morning, still in my own bed, from sleeping with two huge photo albums under my shirt. yeah, now I have to pretend to be brave for the kids. However the chickensh*t dog wanders around whining and crying and trying to crawl up on our laps. She is a medium sized husky mix, so sorry Helga, you are on your own.

I’m a big fan of the Weather Channel, to my husband’s disdain. I like to know when it’s coming, and how much longer it has to go once it’s gotten here. Luckily, my 2 youngest don’t care yet but my oldest has to come and sit right next to me at the first flash of lightening. I’m afraid my fear has rubbed off on him.

The thunderstorms don’t really bother me anymore, it’s the tornadoes that do me in. When I was a kid I would sneak into my parent’s room, wake my mom up and usually end up on the floor beside their bed.

If I wake up for a storm, I like to pull out one of my Madeline L’Engle books. My parents wouldn’t let me camp out in their room when I was growing up and scared, and the way that she writes has always been in a voice that is very comforting to me.

Lots of cuddling!

I used to have nightmares and awake myself with the screaming… my parents bedroom was right next door to mine, so one of them came thru the door and helpt me
I got as far as to trowing myself out of my brother’s bed because I was too far from my daddy in my nightmare

I was quite possibly one of the worst children to share a bed with. I would lay between my parents and once I fell asleep I’d just spin like a top. It was impossible for them to sleep. So most of the time they’d come to my room instead and sit with me until I fell asleep. Luckily I’m a supremely heavy sleeper and I have a knack for sleeping through thunderstorms!

I would gather all my stuffed animals around me in a protective layer- least favorites by my feet, most beloveds by my head. And when it got really scary, I would talk to them.

We went through a phase where my (now 3 year-old) daughter was routinely climbing into bed with us at 3 a.m. So, we established a rule: if she wakes up and the sun is up, she can come get in bed with Mommy & Daddy. But if she wakes up & it’s still dark, she has to stay in her bed.

It mostly works, except now if something (i.e., thunder) wakes her up, she stays in her bed and just yells, “Moooommy!!!” So I stagger down the hall, turn on her Baby Einstein Lullaby CD (which has a seriously hypnotic effect, even on adults; my sister, who has no kids, had me burn her a copy of that CD for nights when she has insomnia), and crawl into bed with her. I stay with her until she falls back to sleep. Of course, the trick is making sure that *I* don’t fall asleep there too, because I’ll wake up with a crick in my neck and aching ribs from a certain toddler’s kicky feet.

At least 2- and sometimes all 3- of our kids are excellent, hard sleepers, so they rarely wake up for thunder. If they do, they are allowed to sleep with us, or we sleep with them. Or we wait until they’re back to sleep and/or the thunder stops and take them back to their own bed.

I didn’t get scared as a kid, either, except for those few times we were pulled out of bed and taken to the basement (during tornado warnings).

To this day, I lay there counting 1-1000, 2-1000 and so on, to see how close it is. If the thunder is right away, I jump out of my skin

I crawled in to bed on my mom’s side and she’d snuggle me. I was actually just thinking about this because my bed is SO high off the ground….it doesn’t need the boxspring….it has the support in the frame of the bed….I’m thinking about getting rid of it so that my bed is ready for scared snuggles. I loved feeling safe next to my mom. And I’m weeping…this could only mean one thing….I’m going to need some chocolate.

I sleep with a night light.

I love thunderstorms, though.

I usually like thunderstorms, I’ll admit. But I remember one in college–yes, college–that freaked me out so bad that I dragged my pillows and blankets to the interior hallway of the apartment and slept on the floor. When my then-boyfriend got home from class, he was rather perplexed.

I used to sleep on the floor at the foot of my parents bed. My kids tend to call for daddy, so that works out good for me!

Storms were the worst thing ever when I was little! Was I the only kid too scared to even walk out into the hallway to get to mom and dad’s room during a storm? I would wedge myself between my bed and nightstand on the side away from the windows, pull my knees up to my chest, and hide my face. Did it make the storm go away? NO, but I felt safe in that small space all curled up.

Rain helps me sleep. That is unless there is the bone rumbling thunder and cracks of lightning…

I’ll never forget this as long as I live. I was about 8 or 9 years old and there was a terrible thunder and lighting storm around 4am. Thunder of course woke me up and light show kept me up. So I crept upstairs and was just going to flop down on the middle of my mom’s bed. It was pitch black in the room so I just walked slow till I got to where I knew the bed was and lunged.

Too bad I forgot my mom had rearranged that week and her bed was no longer there.

I hit the floor as more thunder cracked- mom screamed wondering who was in her house. I’m pretty sure she is still traumatized slightly over this.

Needless to say, we didn’t go back to sleep till later.

Now all it takes is a little cuddle from the hubby to calm me down a bit and go back to sleep. Till the lightning cracks and thunder booms again.

When I was younger thunderstorms always woke me up. I would run to my Mom’s room and sleep with her, until she got remarried. Then I had to sleep on the floor next to her bed. Then I was told I had to sleep outside their door. Finally I just starting crawling in bed with my sister. Now I still don’t like thunderstorms, but I have to act tough for my daughter. I ALWAYS let her sleep with me if a thunderstorm wakes her up. I want the company too!

One of our kids will sleep perfectly still without budging an inch. But not always. So we keep a pillow and blanket on the floor next to our bed and the kids know they can curl up there just about any time. It works gloriously for us!

My mom always sang “My Favorite Things” to me during storms – just like in The Sound of Music! It always seemed to work (or at least got me to giggle).

I like to count from the flash of lightening to the thunder and listen to it go further and further away. Having an activity like that takes your mind off the scariness of the storm.

I would count between the lightening and thunder too, so I knew the storm was going away.

I don’t remember what I did when I was scared, but I DO remember my little brother and sister coming to MY room (not my parent’s room) and crawling into my full sized bed with me.

When I was a kid, I liked the low, grumbling kind of thunder. I started to get scared when the thunder and lighting cracked loudly. I would sit on the couch in our living room and cuddle with the family dog who didn’t mind the noises. This is a great option as long as the dog isn’t afraid of the weather too. My aunt had a dog who jumped in any car with open windows or inside the drier a few hours before a big storm hit.

I slept with my sister and we would find all the stuffed animals(even the ones we didn’t like much) and pile them all in the bed and “ride out the storm” all of us in there together.

When I was little I loved sitting with my brother in the living room watching the rain and counting the seconds between the lightning and the thunder. I’ve never been scared of thunder, but a big boom can still make me jump out of my skin if it catches me off guard!

we would sit up and watch while drinking hot chocolate! greatest memories ever!

I have always loved thunderstorms…and usually slept right through them!

I would carefully walk into my mom and dad’s room and gently poke my mom awake. She never let me sleep in her bed with her, but she’d get up and take me to the bathroom. I guess she didn’t want to get peed on? And then she’d lay down with me in my bed for a little while and sneak back to the comforts of her own bed.

What do I do now? I watch Sesame Street until I deem it safe enough to race to the kitchen to get a drink of water and run back to bed.

I grew up in Ohio and was terrfied of thunderstorms. Whenever they would come around, we would make hot chocolate and popcorn and then sit on the screened in porch and watch them blow over, huddled together, sometimes under blankets. If it was too cold, we would watch movies. It calmed my fear of storms, and I was actually excited when they would come around. I fully intend to start this tradition with my son.

I used to sleep on the futon at the foot of my parents bed. Only problem was my brother (4) regularly slept there too. One time he ran in and hopped on the futon in the middle of the night while I was on it. He had the most terrified look on his face and bolted out of the room when he landed on me.

My mom used to bundle me up and we’d go sit on the porch and watch the storm. It was a small teeeeny tiny town in the middle of nowhere, so even from our front porch on Main St, we could watch the storms roll in over the fields and back out. I think she thought, well, if I can’t sleep I might as well face what scares me.

My favorite memory of her and I is sitting out on the porch swing, that she made, with my cash register on the ledge and my blankie wrapped around us both – watching as the storm wailed. We stayed up till dawn that night – saw the clouds break and the sun come through.

I can’t wait until I get to sit through storms with my family.

I would try to make it to my parents’ bedside in as few steps as possible, including one huge leap off my bed (because the thunder would wake up the monsters living underneath my bed, waiting to grab my feet, OF COURSE).

I let my dog sleep in my bed with me

I don’t live in the Midwest, but as a kid our whole family would sit and watch the storm from our large french doors. My parents made it an exciting thing for us. I guess it was a ‘reverse psychology’ technique that my parents were trying out on us. Well, it worked for me, because I love to watch thunder and lightning storms! But I realize that the storms you get are much much worse! Thanks for sharing!

I live in the Upper Midwest. Definitely not the same as Indiana. Remember 5 years ago the tornado by the speedway during the indy 500? yeah, I almost died. well, my upper midwest piddly rainstorm self almost did.
Indiana has a whole other breed of rainstorm.

I have loved thunderstorms since I was young, but it still doesn’t mean I don’t get a bit scared from time to time; especially with those shake the bed claps of thunder that wake you up and scare the living daylights out of you. When I was a kid, I slept on the floor next to my parent’s bed. Now, I snuggle a little closer to my husband.

I would crawl into my parent’s bed (one of them usually ended up back in my bed or on the couch….they usually did that or slept on the floor anyways. Neither sleep well.) As I got older, I’d grab hold of my stuffed lamb and a book and try reading until I fell asleep.

And I’ve tried entering the GoodNites contest so many times, but it always freezes at the Subscription page.

i would always go down to my parents bedroom and depending on how many of my siblings made it down there (there’s four of us) i would go in their bed or on the floor

Well, it’s not that I wasn’t scared of storms when little, I didn’t hear them. See, I wear a hearing aid, but not to bed, so I only woke up if the lightning was really bad. I think I just pulled the blanket up over my eyes. Mom will probably say I also hollered at her, but for the most part, I slept through the thunder.

I used to get scared at night and go to my parents room. I would never wake them up though. I would wait a few minutes to see if they felt my presence and wake up. I guess my presence isn’t that great! I usually ended up back in my bed…still scared.

Flashlight. Kid sister. Under the covers in my own room, shivering together until the storm passed. That’s how I rolled back in the day! Today with my own kiddo, it’s giving up bed space to snuggle back to sleep. Works like a charm every time.

I’ll let the kids climb into bed with us. After a while, my husband will usually retreat to the couch. Even though we have a king, those little bodies take up a lot of room and generate a lot of heat.

I still do the Poltergeist thing 20+ years later: clap of thunder start counting until lightening strikes.

As a child- when i would wake up from a mightmare or the storms- i would try to calm my breathing and listen for my Father’s snores… the loud window shaking snores. Oh- it gave me a secure feeling- that my father was home and i knew he could fix anything… just the fact that he was down the hall comforted me…
Now that im the “adult”- I let my children sleep with me- i let them wiggle their little diapered bumms in to my curves so that they may be comforted. because i know there will be a day- all too soon- where they will no longer want to. And although I sometimes awake with some heat-seeking feet down the back of my pajama pants- or an elbow in the eye- or, this mornings- a scab being picked off my hand… i love it… every day i awake sourrounded by my Babies…
(i suppose it helps that my husband works grave yard so i have a King sized bed- all to myself…well- all to the 3 of us… LOL…)

I would go into my older sister’s room and cuddle with her!

I laid beside my parents bed too.

I would snuggle up with my blankets at first. When I got older, I would curl up in a chair by the window and watch (because that made it seem so much easier to handle).

and I entered the bedtime theater contest last week…do I need to do another story? Because, I am TOTALLY not creative in that way.

I kinda dig thunderstorms. We were rockin’ and rollin’ last night. There’s be some lightning in the sky (and somehow coincided with some BIG Butler plays last night too!). And sleeping during a springtime rain? I find it soothing. It’s the best sleep for me.

My older brother slept in the room across from mine, so I would take my blanket and pillow and sleep at the end of his bed.

I loved sneaking into my parent’s bedroom with my brother and setting up ‘camp’ next to the bed. My brother had my dad’s side of the bed and I took up residency on my mom’s side. Those memories and the safety that I felt is beyond comparison!

When I was a kid and I got scared I would walk into my mom’s room and gently wake her up. She would then take me to my room and she would lay in my bed with me until I fell back asleep. She was so patient with me (I had bad dreams…a lot!!) I try to do the same thing, but usually I am so tired I just grab my kid and throw her in between me and the man.

I used to get so scared at night when I was little. My dad would reassure me that all I needed to do was yell out and he would come… the only problem was, I was usually so scared that when I’d try to yell, no sound would come out! I would then resort to throwing my stuffed animals out my bedroom door hitting my parent’s door until one of them came out to sing me back to sleep. If I was REALLY lucky, they’d be so tired I’d get to go back to bed with them!

DUDE – is there any other place to be other than in bed with your parents when you’re scared That’s where I always headed…the last time I did it I was in my late 20′s wondering if my postpartum depression was EVER going away!

DUUUUDE… the only place to conquer any middle-of-the-night fear is in bed with my parents. I even did it in my late 20′s when staying with them after the birth of my #3 and recovering form post partum depression and a breast abscess.

When I was really little I remember crawling in bed with my parents. I was the oldest though & by the time I was 4 years old my parents had my 2 year old sister & newborn brother. So most of my childhood I remember just laying in bed not being able to sleep & being freaked the heck out! I would lay as still as I could, with my body & head covered with blankets, practically smothered. Now that I have 2 little girls of my own I have no problem letting them come in my bed if they are scared. It comforts me too, to have them there.

I used to cuddle up with my little yellow blanket and pray that the storm would end soon! Now, I totally LOVE thunderstorms!

Prepare for eye rolling. I *love* thunderstorms. It’s something I miss here on the west coast. When I was little, I used to sit in the window and watch lightning storms. Those are almost better than thunder storms.

Don’t ever move to Florida. Even though I had eight years under my belt of Midwest thunderstorms, I wasn’t prepared for the hurricanes. Picture a high school sophomore running across the Mexican tile to get to her parent’s room (having to pass the 20 foot wide sliding glass doors) during a hurricane… and then she slips. on dog pee. and people wonder what I have against dogs.

Thunderstorms still scare the crap out of me! Only now I am the parent who has to pretend that everything is okay. When I was younger I would sneak into my parents room and lie on the floor next to their bed, or sleep on the nasty couch that was right outside their bedroom door.

We never had any huge great thunderstorms growing up. I always wish that we did.

I grew up in Alabama, so we spent a lot of time in the basement waiting for the tornado warning to end. With my daughter now, she usually ends up in our bed, though really just if the power goes off (which, unfortunately, it often does). He fires up the generator and we camp out in the big bed.

I’m not sure I really remember what I did but my mom says I would show up at the door and sleep in the hallway (never on their side of the door).

Now a days I sleep right through them.

Anytime I was scared, I would creep as slowly and quietly as possible (so as not to alert the monsters) down the stairs, crawl behind the couch and try to get in my moms lap without her noticing. Oh yeah, she knew I was there- but for some reason I thought I was the sneakiest kid who ever lived. She would pretend not to notice until I was cuddled in her lap and then she would act completely surprised. Best mom ever.

I would always run to my sister’s room and cuddle under her blankets. =)

Ohh I love thunderstorms!! Sadly where I live now has very few (we are in the middle of a drought period), but we were lucky to have one last month, I got my 2.5 yo son and we turned off all the lights and opened up the curtains – and just watched the lightning, the rain and heard the thunder. It was so special, and something I remember doing when I was little. That said, if I ever woke up during the night I would also creep into mum and dads room and sleep at the foot of their bed – never even dared to try climb in with them.

I just “toughed it out” as a kid. But seriously, we live 3 miles from Lake Michigan so its always really cool to watch it come over the lake!

As a kid, I slept with the lights on when I got scared. Oh, okay, I STILL sleep with the lights on anytime my husband goes out of town. Either that, or I go sleep in my kids’ bed (they share)—they think it’s mommy sleep over time, but really, I’m just a big scaredy cat and like other humans around!

My parents kept sleeping bags rolled up under their bed for those kind of nights – mine was Care Bears and my brother’s was Batman. If we got scared, we’d usually wake each other up first, so my parents would have two sleeping children to trip over in the morning.

I always grabbed my blankie, bear, and pillow and camped out in the bathtub. I am deathly afraid of storms, especially tornado anything!

We need a kingsize bed so I can fit all of my kids in there with me. The babies have never slept in a crib an entire night although I’ve owned two. When it storms I want to gather up them and bring them all in my room so we can snuggle together. I don’t think my husband is a fan. I hate that the two big kids are way at the opposite end of our house.

I’m a twin, so when I was a kid, I’d sleep in my sister’s twin-size with her (we had the same room, of course). But if I had a nightmare, and the thing I was scared of would make it hard to get over to her bed (like, say, a shark or tremors, worse movie ever for kids), I would have to try and jump over to her bed.Or my sister would create a make-shift raft and I’d float over there.

When I was little I’d stand in my parents’ doorway, in the dark, and WILL them to wake up. I probably got really close to their face like my kids do now and always scared them when they sensed my presence. Then I’d sleep in between them the rest of the night. And most always wet their bed.

Steph

Um, my parents would tell me to go back to bed. Now, I call my husband to check on the house (he works the night shift). My kids sleep right through it. !!! Don’t know when that will end (they are three and one).

Alyssa comes in with us almost every night, lightning or not. On the diagonal sleeping days, either myself or the Tim forfeit OUR.OWN.DELICIOUS.COMFY.BED. to the 25 pound 4 year old and slither our way in to her bed – 20 something year old mattress on a frame so not manufactured to hold 200 pound adults. It’s rather pathetic.

Roll your eyes if you must, but I grew up near the US midwest, and loved (and still love) thunder and lightning. I don’t know why, but a storm is calming to me for some reason.

That being said, my daughter does not share my love, and has been known to crawl into our bed at all hours of the night. We generally try to keep her confined to her bed, but sometimes she comes in and we’re both so asleep that she just climbs in between us, pulls my arm around her, and falls asleep so that we find her in the morning, neither of us aware when she came in.

I wasn’t afraid of storms when I was young. In fact, I always loved them – they made me feel all cozy inside. But I was afraid of school. Weird, I really liked school once I got there. It was the going there, the thinking about having to be there. I used to make up reasons to be able to go back home – I got sick on the way, I lost my glasses/shoe/lunch/whatever. I know I drove my mom crazy.
Looking back on it now, I guess I’ve always had anxiety issues. I just didn’t realize what those feelings were, until a few years ago, when I found myself getting that same feeling about work. Yeah, I would like to just go in a closet sometimes, pull a blanket over my head and just stay there. A dog my sister had would do the same thing during thunderstorms. Hmmm.

When I was young I used to squeeze in bed, between my parents. I did this until FOURTH GRADE!

At a slumber party, I watched a moving called, The Changeling (The George C. Scott movie, not the Angelina Joelie move). There is a scene where the ghost of a little boy who was drowned by his parents appears, floating in a bathtub, in the living room of a house. Because I had to go through the living room to get to my parent’s room, and because there was NO WAY I WANTED TO ENDURE THAT HORROR! I quit going to my parents room to sleep.

So I stayed in my own room.
Terrified.

Fortunately, I shared a room with my little sister, Rachel. I started getting her out of her crib and putting her in bed with me.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever told her about this…

My oldest is only 3.5 so I act like thunder is a big old cool party. We roar at it like dragons (she likes to roar) and try to be just as loud. So far she thinks thunderstorms are fun. I know there will be a day when that stops.

I would pester my poor mom into coming into my room with me and staying until I fell back to sleep.

So far my kids have been impervious to thunderstorms. One’s going on right now…we’ll see if the streak lasts!

I always called for my dad. He never came, but always answered back. My kids, however, climb into my bed every.single.night. They work in stealth mode. I have no idea they’re in my room until I can’t roll over at all. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in 8 1/2 years, and I’m kind of over it.

I had no fear of thunderstorms until I was in fifth grade. My science teacher showed us a documentary titled, “It Sounded Like a Freight Train” hosted by Tom Skilling (I desperately tried to find a link so I could go back and see what was so scary about it!). It was all about tornadoes and showed tons of footage. I specifically remember them discussing the shade of green the sky turns right before a tornado hits. Would you believe me if i told you i distinctly remember that shade, like as if i watched that video yesterday? Because , I do!The thing is, I never feared storms before the day we watched that. And to this day, I still cringe when the sky’s darken, the wind picks up, and the rain begins to beat down on the roof and the windows. I even have a survival kit in the basement of our house with blankets, extra clothes, diapers, food, water, and cat food. I now, I’m a total loser, but hey, it’s crazy things like that that keep me feeling a little bit sane when it comes to a nasty storm. On the flipside, I have found a way to attempt to conquer my fear. When it storms, I make it big deal with the kids, and say things like “Wow! Look at how hard the wind is blowing!” or “Look at he size of those rain drops!”. I make it exciting for them, all the while I am doing my best to hold it together and not let them know I am freaking out. To tell you the truth, it’s kind of working!

My parents always made storms so exciting! We would cuddle up in blankets and watch all the excitement. I’ve tried to do this with my own little ones as well. To make it fun rather than super scary.

I was never allowed in the parental bed but told to go back to my own bed. I let my own kids climb in for a minute and then send them packing. I can’t sleep with kids in the bed with me.

I like your couch idea though- if only our bedroom were large enough for a couch.

When I was very little & shared a room w/my brother we’d hold hands, him in the top bunk, me in the bottom. My parents didn’t do the whole open room/bed thing. We however have a open room/bed for storms. In fact, last night we too had storms & we just brought the little one to bed w/us. Saved from having to get up & get her. She slept soundly & w/my NOAA radio, I did too!

When I was a kid, I’d always run from my bottom bunk (my sister was in the top one) and crawl into my mom’s side of the bed. One night — and I remember this vividly — she rolled over and knocked me right out of bed and I whacked my head on her night table. That was definitely the last time I did that.

My brother and I would meet our Mom downstairs in the kitchen. We would listen to the “angles bowling in heaven”. That was our Mom’s explanation for the thunder and lightening.

When it storms, I build my little girl a fort in my bedroom, arm her with a flashlight, her favorite stuffed animal, her favorite blanket, and mommy’s pillow. Then we count, 1-1000, 2-1000, etc. She goes out like a light!

Actually, we haven’t ever had thunderstorm issues. I like to believe it’s because when my oldest was a baby, every time thunder boomed I would clap and yell Yay! but in retrospect, that probably had as much to do with it as my baby feeding skills had to do with her liking vegetables.

I grew up in Las Vegas..and so during the summers (usually August) we have lots of thunderstorms and flooding. Weirdly, I LOVED them. Especially when they would happen in the late afternoons and the lightening would turn the sky purple. At night, because they were loud…I would usually stay up on the couch with my mom until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore and then she’d make me go to bed. I only remember sneaking into her room and sleeping there once when the bush outside the window kept tapping and I’d recently watched Polterguiest (yeah, I don’t know what my mom was thinking, I was probably 8).

I was never really scared of storms that much when I was little. Lights are a good bet. Or to remember where my family was at all times during the night, so I knew I wasn’t alone.

My fiance is obsessed with doppler reports. He looks on at least 3 different websites to find out where the storm is and where it’s going. I like to just lie in bed and listen to it. When I was little I’d put on the light and snuggle with a cat.

i grew up in the minnesota where there are lots of invisible giraffes in addition to thunderstorms. my mom would always comment on the giraffe that lived in my room and i was always bummed that i couldn’t see it. turns out it was a draft. bummer. but the bedtime kit would do wonders for giraffes too.

I love thunderstorms. Always have. My cat? Also not bothered. Boyfriend? Sleeps right through ‘em. Dog? Well, dog is another story. She a mix and she has these HUGE pleading eyes that she’ll turn on me when there’s thunder…usually from under a blanket where she’s hiding. She has a dog bed in my room where she sleeps at night, but during thunderstorms, she’s under my covers with me. And she, like Moosh, is a diagonal, kicky sleeper.

It is a great night of cuddly sleeping, though.

I’m hard of hearing, so I never heard the thunder–I suppose that made things a lot easier! To escape my fear of the lightening, I would go read in my closet. It sounds lame, but I couldn’t see the flashes from there.

I grew up in the midwest (Nebraska and Kansas) so I totally MISS thunderstorms. I miss the body shaking thunder and the beauty of the lightning.

That doesn’t mean I was never scared of it though. I remember crawling into bed with my folks as a little one and then my little brother crawling into bed with me when I got older.

One time we had a black out because of the storm and this little brother was in my room. I was 8 and he was 4. On my dresser was a candle in a jar and he was scared of the flickering on the ceiling. So, like any good big sister would do, I made it into a lamp…with a tissue. Imagine my SHOCK when that tissue lit on fire! I was SO shocked that I threw it into my face and came running out of my bedroom looking a bit like Michael Jackson. Luckily my Dad came and got it off of me and I was fine. I learned a lesson that day. Never let your little brother into your room during black outs

I don’t remember what would scare me as a kid, but I rarely went into my parent’s room because if I ever did it took quite a bit to wake my mom since she was such a deep sleeper. When I finally did rouse her, she would wake up, look right into my eyes and scream to the high heavens. That would make me scream in turn. This was scarier than whatever made me get out of bed in the first place!

I like the idea of the thunder couch.

I hate storms. as a kid and at 32 years old. I do nothing but hold my head under blankets when it gets scary. Growing up as a kid I walked to and from school like we did in the “old days” and I got stuck in a freak thunder storm/tornado. so as Im walking down a busy road I can see this giant tornado off in the distance. Rocks and little bits of debris kept pelting me everywhere. I am seeriously emotionally scarred for life. It was no, Wizard of oZ thats for sure. Now when I hear tornado sirens i have mini panic attacks.

I was totally that kid. We get some SCARY storms in Kansas. I was allowed to sleep on my parents’ bedroom floor in my sleeping bag. Perfect solution for us.

I used to hide my head under the covers. Now I lay in bed…open the blinds and watch! I love storms (as long as they aren’t so severe damage is done!)

I would stay under the covers. No where else would do!

i grew up in so ca, so we never really had thunderstorms. not like the kind we have here in the deep south – where i live now. but when i was little and i did wake up scared in the middle of the night, i’d take my pillow with me and go to my parents room. my mom would immediately get up – grab her own pillow, and go get in my bed – and i’d climb in bed with my dad. it happened that way every time…we just switched beds.

Mom would take me outside to the covered front porch. We’d sit on the swing and snuggle up in a big blanket to watch the lightening, listen to the rain and thunder and dream of tomorrow’s rainbows.

I always ran to mom and dad’s room and curled up on the floor as well. Only I knew to grab my pillow and blanket. As a mom now, I don’t let my kids get into our bed but I’m such a sap, I just leave a blanket (or two…) on the floor next to my bed and they use the “decorative” pillows that I put on the floor when I go to bed. It works be-a-Utifully since now I can sleep through the night and don’t even hear them come in and say “mommy I’m cold!”

I am the mama bear and the storms fear me now. I have a weather radio that I put on my bed-table and it wakes me when there is a warning. Sometimes I turn it off and pray that if the storm hits, it takes us all on home to Jesus, ’cause I’m just too tired to wake up and worry.

I remember both of my younger sisters piling into my bed (twin bed!) with me when they were scared of storms and things. If it was really bad we’d sneak downstairs to our parents room. And if Mom was feeling really generous, she’d let us sleep on the couch in the living room.

if i’m already asleep, i usually sleep right through them and sleep like a rock! seriously, i get the BEST sleep during storms. if i’m already awake, i have to watch out a window.

as a kid i was always fascinated with storms. it was my mom who was the big scaredy cat.

whenever i had a bad dream or something else had me scared i would find a small space and curl up there (the space between the couch and the wall, a cupboard, etc)

Love, love, love thunderstorms. My brother was/is a weather freak. So whenever the big storms rolled in we’d be outside in the backyard watching the show. I don’t have any memories of ever going into my parents’ room as a kid. My dad’s a big hairy guy who sleeps in his underwear. No storm is scarier than that.

My twin sister and I would always go to my grandma’s side of the bed and tap her on the arm. She would jump like a mile in the air and tell us it would be okay. Now my kids do that to me. I wake up with a panic as a little kid is staring me down. Usually a pallet on the floor in our room does the trick.

I had a little brother that was more scared than me about the storms. As his big sister I felt it was my “responsibility” to comfort him. So I’d pretend to be all brave and would set up camp for us in my big daybed (which was bigger than his regular twin bed). My mom would allow us a cookie apiece and we’d make a “tent” over my bed with my sleeping bag and whatever we could use to tie the ends up to make the roof. We would sit under this tent, each holding a stuffed animal, and we’d make up stories or songs while the storm was going on. So it was kind of like pretending to be camping. Usually I’d try to make the stories or songs as funny as possible so we’d be distracted by having more to laugh about than to be scared about the storm. Sometimes my mom would join in. She was always a great storyteller.

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