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Home › Articles › Parenting Strategies › Hurricane Season

Hurricane Season

Helping to Alleviate Your Child's Fears

By Laura Cone

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Ryan Wee, 17, a senior at Ben Franklin, says his family of four including sister Kirsten, 14, and parents Beth and Jim, are living in an apartment after their home was flooded under more than nine feet of water. Wee says his family spent an entire day trying to board up their house and then evacuated. "I had evacuated a few times before," he says. "It never hit. I'd spend the whole day boarding up the house and come home. I thought it was kind of a pain."

Wee says most young people feel helpless when they hear about a hurricane. "I think a lot of kids who had to go through it are pretty worried," he says. "My sister was freaked out about it. We had to leave our rabbit behind. He was 10 years old. He died in the flood. That got to her. We lost just about everything in the house."

Wee says some of his friends did not evacuate. "The biggest problem was people who could not leave," he says. "A friend of mine, a coach at one of the local schools here, had to be air-lifted off his house with his two little girls. He could not leave. He did not have the means at the time. I know he got out safe."

Finally, the cliche about saving money for a rainy day takes on a new meaning during hurricane season. Make sure you put aside a small amount of money throughout the year for hurricane season so your child does not have the added stress of having to worry about staying with strangers, not having enough food or being trapped in a dangerous place during a mandatory evacuation.

Storm Alert: Tips for Calming Fears

  • Help your child identify a safe room in the home for hurricanes and tornadoes.
  • Post the names and phone numbers of people to call in case of emergency, including 911.
  • Decide who will keep your pets or where they will go in case you need to evacuate.
  • Include your child every year in a trip to the grocery store for nonperishable food supplies and water for hurricane season.
  • Print a disaster supply kit list from the National Hurricane Center. Let your child help you gather those supplies.
  • On the day of a hurricane, help your child stick to his or her daily routine.
  • Let your child know what the family will be doing next so they are prepared for each stage, such as preparation, evacuation or staying in a safe room and recovery.
  • Encourage your children to memorize their family name, address and phone number. If they are not old enough to remember, have them carry a card that lists emergency information.
  • Following an emergency, keep your family together and give your children chores they can handle to help in the recovery.


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