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.
making unbreakable - formerly moosh in indy. 
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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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! 🙂
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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!
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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.
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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. 🙂
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I used to cuddle up with my little yellow blanket and pray that the storm would end soon! Now, I totally LOVE thunderstorms!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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We never had any huge great thunderstorms growing up. I always wish that we did.
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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.
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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. 😉
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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.
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I would always run to my sister’s room and cuddle under her blankets. =)
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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.
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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!
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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!
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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.
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I always grabbed my blankie, bear, and pillow and camped out in the bathtub. I am deathly afraid of storms, especially tornado anything!
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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.
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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.
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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
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 😉
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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.
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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.
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