Talking With Your Kids About Deadly Tornadoes and Severe Weather

As I write this, tornado sirens blare in Golden Valley. On a sunny and warm day, we're lucky to be testing the sirens—not having to use them like so many did a week ago today. The South continues to dig itself out after last week's deadly tornadoes killed 337 people across seven states, including at least 246 in Alabama.

According to National Public Radio, the Red Cross has declared one town 75 percent destroyed. Think about that. Imagine our police stations wiped out or rescue workers begging for something as simple as a flashlight. How would our fire deparments operate if their trucks were destroyed?

It's nearly impossible for adults to comprehend the magnitude of the death and destruction left behind by one of the worst tornado outbreaks in U.S. history. 

But if we're having trouble thinking about it, imagine what our kids are going through. As a soon-to-be mom (due this summer), I think about how I'll talk with my daughter about what happened. I wonder how I'll comfort her when tornado sirens blare and she has nightmares for weeks.

I asked my friend, Mike Augustyniak, to help me put some perspective on the storms. Mike works at WCCO-TV and is a weather expert and morning meteorologist for channel 4.

Here's what he has to say:

• What happened last week is extremely rare.
  
  "There should be a little comfort in the knowledge that stuff like this doesn't happen every day, every year, or even every decade," Mike says.  "It's even less likely to have an outbreak the magnitude of what occurred in the south last week occur here in Minnesota."

• Stay informed.
  
  "A tornado or severe thunderstorm watch is issued up to 12 hours in advance of widespread severe weather and is your first alert that you should pay extra attention to the weather situation through the day."
  
  So the more knowledge you have, the more easily you can make calm and well-informed decisions about your safety.

• Respect the power of severe weather.
  
  "Tornadoes (and, for that matter, severe thunderstorms with strong straight-line winds) can be dangerous," he says. "But there are some really simple things that you can do to lessen your risk of serious injury."
  
  Just because it probably won't happen doesn't mean it can't, so pay attention to storm and tornado drills.

I have spent enough time with nieces and nephews to know that my daughter will probably ask me a myriad of questions about severe weather and tornadoes.  I realize the endless "Why?" questions are just a year or two away.

Mike talks with a lot of students about severe weather.  Kids listen to him because he has answers, and I think that's the key.  So I've asked Mike to send a little study guide for all of us so we can have answers, too.  See the attached PDF.

The more we know, the more we can answer. And to me that seems like the best way to stay prepared and to comfort our little ones.

Here's what other west metro moms have to say:

Becky Corn, Lake Minnetonka

While I love the coziness of thunderstorms, I become a worry wart myself the second sirens signal severe weather. If severe weather approached when I was a teen, I would start cleaning— tidying, dusting vacuuming, you name it. Something about cleaning made my severe weather anxiety better, and my mother soon welcomed the sound of the city's siren and anticipated a clean house.

However, one stormy day she informed me, "You know, if there really is a tornado, you are wasting your time cleaning."

So while I try to be more sensitive to my child if she is afraid, severe weather is a fact of life. What happened in the south recently was not much more than a freak occurrence. More people die everyday in car crashes. Do I want my child to be afraid of riding in a car? No, but I do want her to wear her seat belt. Do I want her to be deathly afraid of storms? No, but I want her to run inside if she sees lightning.

My child is four years old, and too young to know what is going on in the news. When severe weather approaches our neck of the woods, we will take all precautions we can and hope for the best.

Kay Gordon, Golden Valley

I'm finding that it's harder for me to talk with my 10-year-old about the storms than it is with my five-year-old.  It's something that happened on TV as far as my little one is concerned.  But for my pre-teen daughter, she's just starting to understand national events, and she takes them to heart.

I tried to comfort her by telling her that what happened in Alabama would never happen here, but no surprise, she didn't buy it.  So I sat down and printed out a few newspaper articles from the Internet, and we talked about what happened and how we'll be prepared the next time we get a storm.

But she still had a lot of questions about last week's tornadoes.  Then it hit me- we could DO something about it!  So we went to the Red Cross online and made a donation, and I've given her the project of finding another organization we can either volunteer for or donate to.  That's made all the difference in the world!