The Sky is Falling But I'll Be OK

A year or two ago we came to the realization that the Weather Channel was getting too much airtime at our house.

The same ads play over and over, (unmute it Mommy it's the Head-On commercial!), the weather forecast is shown every ten minutes, and the same Weather Channel programs are promoted about as frequently. We tolerated this because we are creatures of habit, and watching The Weather Channel was like a draw from a Marlboro Light to a two-pack-a-dayer.

Then one day when the TV wasn't even on, Peanut came to me, visibly upset, and said,

"Mommy, I'm afraid it's going to happen tomorrow!".

When I asked what she was afraid would happen tomorrow, she very worriedly said, "I don't know but The Weather Channel keeps saying "It Could Happen Tomorrow", and I'm afraid it will!".

Around this time we remembered that both Peanut and Sissy had nervously voiced concerns about unlikely but scary weather phenomena like avalanches and tidal waves. That's when we knew we had hit rock-bottom. So we didn't watch the Weather Channel on TV after that. It was actually pretty easy... we knew we could get a quick fix by going to weather.com, and a quick fix was usually all we needed anyway.

Peanut's fear of the unknown impending crisis disappeared and the general mood around here has been less heavy. It's funny how continuous previews of natural disasters can drag you down.

I wonder though, if in the interest of allaying her fears, we have gone too far in the opposite direction. The other morning, because of some buzz about winter weather and potential schedule changes, The Weather Channel made a temporary comeback on our TV.

Peanut watched an ad for "Storm Trackers" or some other such program in which huge, dark funnel clouds are shown barreling down on unsuspecting buildings while a dramatic male voice intones things like, "Is this town prepared for the worst catastrophe in its history?!?"

And when it was over, she turned to me and asked me what would happen to her if she got sucked up in a tornado..... and while I was wondering how to answer her, she laughingly said this:

"Oh I know what would happen. It would spin me around and around, and when it set me down again, I would be really, REALLY dizzy".

So she has a psychological cushion now - a sort of internal guideline that says: When mentally placing yourself in the most dangerous scenario imaginable, minor injuries are all you may allow yourself to incur - and you should always give yourself a way out.

Whatever. I'm not messing with it.