The first storm was during the night and although I was aware of the thunder and lightening, the tent was robust and we were warm snug and dry.
The second storm happened just as we were clearing up dinner and lots of people hadn’t even started so gathered under our gazebo for shelter. Soon hail the size of ice cubes was covering the grass. Two children who were sheltering with us got very scared so I invited them into our tent for shelter. I have never experienced such terror in two little children who really were inconsolable. They kept asking me if they were going to die. I assured them that we weren’t, although watching the puddles of water collecting and eventually becoming fast streams with random shoes, toys and other camping bits floating away, it was hard not to be concerned!
I wanted to do EFT with them but the little girl was very scared and hard to console but the boy was more receptive and allowed me to gently tap on his fingers as he asked lots of questions about floods and storms.
I then asked him where he felt the scared feeling which he said was in his head. Then I asked him what colour the scared feeling was and he said black. Whilst continually tapping on his fingers, I asked him what colour was needed to help the black scared feeling. He said yellow. So I suggested he mix the yellow with the black to lift and lighten it. When I asked again the scared feeling was grey. He then asked to add red to the grey which released a bit more fear. After a few more colour changes I asked him how scared he was feeling. Instead of using the 0 to 10 scale I asked him to show me with his hands (hands wide means a lot of fear, hands together – no fear). His hands were about 8 cm apart and he was a lot calmer. As he looked out of the window of the tent, he reflected that with wellies, this would be like a giant puddle to splash in. Definitely a happier way of looking at the situation!
EFT Tapping is such a great tool for parents, especially when you want to comfort your child and help them stop feeling upset, anxious or scared. As parents (or even just witnessing someone else’s child in distress) can bring up feelings of helplessness so knowing you have a tool that can help them calm down, is so comforting.
It is often hard to introduce tapping in extreme situations (like with the little girl who rejected a new technique) so I always recommend bringing tapping into your daily life within your parenting so that when the unexpected arises, it is already part of your toolkit. If you would like to learn how to do EFT with your kids, do join me for the online How to tap with your kids course.
The children’s parents who had been sorting out the tent and remains of dinner, finally joined us in our dry tent until the storm calmed down (it lasted about 2 hours!) at which point they had to abandon their flooded tent and go home.
The tents that had been pitched at the bottom of a very gentle slope had to leave their tents and go to local hotels or home and returned to pack in the morning.
If you are a mum who wants to have feel happier in herself, with her children check out my book Frazzled to Fabulous in 5 Minutes a Day Follow my quick and easy step-by-step programme here https://www.frazzledtofabulous.com/