What type of fear does this advice address?
Fear of natural phenomenon (lightning, the dark)

Please describe your child's fear and how it is manifested:
My child used to be petrified of loud booms of thunder and flashes of lightning!

How did/are you help(ing) your child learn to overcome this fear?
I would give my son a hug and let him know he is OK. Depending on the child's age, it also helps to explain what causes the phenomenon. Explain how the lightning actually occurs first, causing the air around it to expand. The thunderclap is caused as air rushes back in to fill the vacuum created by the lightning. Tell him that we see the lightning first because light travels faster than sound. Teach him how to figure out how far away lightning is by counting the seconds between the sound of the thunder and the lightning flash. This number divided by five gives you an estimate in miles of the distance to the thunderstorm. These explanations often work as a great distraction.

This advice is most appropriate for children in...
Preschool and Younger
Elementary School
Middle School