Worry Bug

In the midst of this dreadful summer heat (and it's not even at its peak), our little guy is going through a pretty bad case of child anxieties.  His biggest fears are linked to tragedies or natural disasters: the world cracking in half, the rain (what rain?) causing our house or Grandma & Grandpa's house to collapse, or a hurricane suddenly forming around us.  It's gotten to the point where any inclination of a grey cloud in the sky worries him all day!  He even wakes up asking me to show him today's weather on the news or he navigates through my mobile phone to check the weather application I have on there for weather updates.  I've read up quite a bit that child anxieties are normal for children his age; Caleb is par for the course.  I remember when I was 6 or 7 years old, I worried for a couple of weeks that we were going to be attacked by killer bees --- no matter what my parents told me to reassure me, it didn't work.  I believe I just forgot about it over a couple of weeks' time.  However, we've noticed that our little guy has some obsessive tendencies that may cause him to over-analyze any ounce of bad news, thus causing him to take longer to get out of this phase (God, I'm praying it's just a phase and not a permanent phobia).  So far, we've been allowing him to express his worries and concerns and we've reassured him that we will be safe if it does rain.  I never thought I'd be explaining to our 7 year old why rain is good for our environment (especially during this heat of summer).

To help the situation further, the hubby and I decided to enroll our little guy in summer activities to keep his mind off of these negative thoughts.  He's been doing so well since, or perhaps it's that he doesn't have access to a phone there to call us every 30 minutes.  Tomorrow is my other concern, since it is expected to rain.  We'll see how he handles it.... but in all honesty, I'm not confident his worries will subside while it rains.  Fortunately, he has such a great and fun time during camp that he is anxiously looking forward to it everyday.  For now, we will continue to be as patient, understanding, and reassuring as possible.

*Special thanks to my dear friend Amy who brought us some Holy Water from the Shrine so we could bless our home... this did help Caleb feel safer at home. :)  Thank you, Amy!