Teach her basic safety for this area. Identify the basement area or other low-level, inner room (usually a bathroom) to go to. Tell her to grab her phone (if she has one) and shoes and go in there. The phones will all start to go off, although when the tornado from a few years ago hit here (actually touched down at the end of my block), it had already passed before the phone alarm went. Grownups have your purse/phone/wallet/car keys and shoes with you (I also grab our passports) and sit it out. Even with it being that close, the most damage we had was some larger branches down in the yard, and the wind blew out the tumblers in our front door lock so we couldn’t use the key and had to replace the front door lock. It DOES sound a bit like a train.

This area is so unlikely to have an event that leads to fatalities. Property damage, sure, but if you are in the safe place it really is unlikely.

Anonymous wrote:10 year old DD figured out that her school had an early release day due to weather concerns, including POSSIBLE tornado-related matters. This isn’t good for her to be aware of, simply because she is really afraid of tornadoes lately. She saw “The Wizard of Oz” last month and I don’t know if she’s really deduced that it’s not a documentary quite yet! lol. But I do feel bad for my child, she’s so scared of a tornado coming. How do I reassure her? This is kinda time sensitive, so PLEASE respond.

I can troll too

Read her the statistics for your area

DCUM-land in general overreacts to all weather. All this talk is producing weather anxiety in your children.

It felt like the whole DC area overreacted to this weather forecast. My 13 year old asked me if I thought she should be worried and I said no (as a DC native who saw the derecho thunder by and read about small freak weather event tornados over the years). My 11 year didn’t pay attention at all and fully enjoyed the half day. Kids don’t have much perspective on these weather forecasts… unless they came from a place with a real tornado threat.

I would try to explain to her why tornados are more likely in a place like Kansas and much less likely in a place with varied terrain. By the way, there are so many reasons why kids get scared of the Wizard of Oz. My husband was terrified of the monkeys as a kid. I avoided looking at the witch. But, the tornado actually transports Dorothy and Toto to a magical place! Maybe your daughter latched onto how unrealistic that is? Maybe you guys need to talk it out.

My daughter suddenly was terrified of bad weather at that same age and it ended up being the start of OCD.

Just make sure she knows what to do in a tornado and reassure her that now we have sophisticated weather alerts and there will be time to get to a safe place. Explain that we live where there is excellent weather reporting because we are so close to DC or something like that.

Well good thing there was no tornado

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They ARE terrifying! Nothing like being under the stairs (we have no basement) for hours at night with a helmet on your heads praying it's not coming your way.

Except this is Virginia and that doesn’t happen here.

There have been tornadoes that have destroyed buildings in Virginia. Woodson high school was severely damaged by a tornado back in the 1970s.

Rare, yes. But it happens.

https://woodsonhs.fcps.edu/about/history/1970s

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Remind her that:

1. In places like DC, tornadoes are incredibly rare. They almost never happen and, chances are, we will not see any.

2. In many other places, tornadoes are common and people who are used to them don't necessarily think about that all that much. Some people, in places like Missouri and Oklahoma, even get in their cars and chase them because they are cool to look at!

#2, while true, doesn’t mean it’s advisable. Please don’t tell your daughter about people jumping in cars to chase tornadoes. Lots of people do stupid things everywhere, because they think it’s cool. Most people who live where tornadoes are common have more sense. The fact is that a cloud can spawn more than one tornado, so while you think you’re safely chasing one tornado, another may suddenly drop without warning where you are.

I think you're missing the point. The idea here is that lots of people who are used to tornadoes don't consider them particularly scary. I don't anyone needs to worry about anyone chasing tornadoes in DC because 1. we get about 1 tornado every 25 years and 2. with our traffic, no one can chase anything.

Well, I guess we’re talking past each other, because I think you’re missing the point.

I get the idea that lots of people who are used to tornados don’t consider them particularly scary - I’m one of them. I get the idea that some people chase tornadoes in their cars because they’re cool to look at. My father and I were already in the car on the way home when we spotted a tornado and he decided to drive towards it a while before he pulled over and got out for a better view, because he thought it was “cool to look at”. I finally had to threaten to tell mother that he had kept me out in the open with no shelter anywhere around before he took me back into town. He may not have been scared of tornadoes, but he had sense enough to be respectful of a mad mama.

The fact that tornados are rare here and traffic congestion makes chasing anything difficult is beside the point. She may not always live here, and traffic isn’t always an issue. Hypothetically, a person might be able to watch a “cool” tornado from their front yard, but that doesn’t mean they should.

The point is that you don’t need to fear tornados (or other dangers) when you respect them and take sensible precautions. On the other hand, people who are reckless and engage in risky behavior because they think it’s cool, can be a danger to themselves and those around them, whether or not tornadoes are involved.