Friday, March 23, 2012

My Child is Afraid of Thunder

Every day when Pierce gets off the bus, I'm always eager to hear how things went at school.  A few weeks ago, he had an uncharacteristic response by telling me he had a horrible day.  Usually he's fairly happy and excited when he arrives home.  Apparently, there had been a big storm that passed by quickly, complete with a loud and startling clap of thunder.  Indeed, I found a note from Pierce's teacher in his folder, explaining that he was upset by the thunder, and that he'd told them he was having a "rotten day". 

And every day Pierce brings home a book that we read together as his "homework".  On that day, one of his thoughtful teachers sent home the book Thunder Cake by Patrician Polacco.  It's a neat tale of a girl who is scared of thunderstorms, and her grandmother tells her they will make thunder cake.  The girl counts between the lightening and the thunder as they rush to gather ingredients for the cake before the storm arrives.  They gather eggs, milk the cow, and even pick tomatoes (the secret ingredient).

After Pierce and I read the story, Pierce was very adament.  "Mom.  We HAVE to make thunder cake!".  Luckily, the book includes the recipe.  I didn't have two of the ingredients on hand, but promised to pick them up.  And a few days later, Pierce helped me with the mixing, and we had our cake. 

Guess who wasn't feeling quite so rotten anymore?

If you like creative ideas involving children's books, go check out JDaniel4sMom for Read, Explore, Learn.

Shibley Smiles

41 comments:

Vision By Mila said...

the cake looks so good! have a good thunderless weekend!

Karen thisoldhouse2.com said...

I love this post, Lisa. And the things you are doing now with your children will stay with them always, they'll appreciate their upbringing more than you know.

Unknown said...

I love that his teacher sent this wonderful book home to read. Your cake looks delicious!

Oh! Thank you for linking to Read.Explore.Learn.

Eat To Live said...

What a thoughtful teacher. That was so nice of her to send that book home.

I don't like thunder either... because with thunder comes lightning. When I was younger we had lightening strike near our house and go around inside the house. Lucky it hit no one, but scared the crap out of us.

andy said...

Wow that cake looks great
! Have a great weekend

Sonya @ Under the Desert Sky said...

Aww, I'm glad the teacher sent home that book! And I'm glad the cake baking worked! It looks tasty!

Anonymous said...

Cake....it's good for curing just about anything.

Gone Country said...

Now that's an awesome teacher who is interested in her/his students.

Are you going to have to make a Thunder Cake every time it storms now? Hahaha, I guess you'll need to have the ingredients on hand just in case.

Also, loved how Pierce used the phrase 'having a rotten day'... so cute! (Not that he actually had a rotten day of course!)

Out on the prairie said...

What a great way to face that fear. I saw some tiny ones like this a few times while teaching.

Charade said...

What a sweet post. I'm not sure how I outgrew my fear of thunder to the point that I now relish it, but I know I never got a thunder cake. Tomatoes? Hmmm

Sally said...

I have to agree the teacher was so nice to send that book home. And, look at sweet little Pierce. Priceless!

Have a wonderfuly day, Lisa. :)

Cuby said...

The power of literature never knock it! I love thunderstorms so I need to think of a reason to bake a Thunder cake as it does look rather delicious. Great post today. :)

TexWisGirl said...

awww. how cute.

Michaele said...

Pierce has such a great teacher AND mom!!

Mere said...

It's okay Pierce, I was afraid of thunder at your age too...i only wish I had a cool book like that!

the cake looks delicious, were there really tomatoes in it?

Jill said...

That is a very caring and thoughtful teacher. I'm so glad you two make the cake and that Pierce is feeling better. Very sweet.

I Am Woody said...

What a wonderful teacher he has!!

Anonymous said...

Still have one boy scared of storms, but we all LOVE Patricia's books. They are wonderful.

Andrea said...

How sweet of his teacher to send something home like that. That is a good teacher right there! And what a cute cake! :>

Mary said...

That is so thoughtful of his teacher her to give him that book to read. What a fun way to help him get past that fear. That cake looks really good too :)

Have a great weekend Lisa!

Kim@stuffcould.... said...

I was afraid of thunder when I was his age...Yummy looking cake

Keepin' Up With The Jones said...

What a cute idea! I love it!

Anonymous said...

I am not really a fan of thunderstorms, here they mostly comes at night. That cake looks yummy :)
Have a lovely weekend!

Eva

Unknown said...

Oh, Lisa...
To bad he was so scared! And that he had a rotten day at school, but... You guys got to make wonderful memories!

When we were living in MO. we always had severe thunderstorms and the weather radio would go crazy sometimes the whole day through.
Now still... even though we don't live there anymore we still wait for an alarm to go off when it starts raining!

Ahhh, those precious memories!

Thank you for sharing.

Hugs,

Sandy

Michelle said...

I love this! What a nice teacher to do that for him.

Tweedles -- that's me said...

The thunder cake is such a good idea!
What a wonderful way to make scariness fun.
love
tweedles

Anonymous said...

What a great book for children, and what lovely time for the two of you.

Ginny Hartzler said...

Hey!!! I love the Thunder Cake!!!! Let us know if this helped and if he is still afraid of thunder. I'm not afraid of it, but some of the very loud claps can really startle you and make you jump, maybe he is super sensitive to that. I enjoyed reading about Radley, I hope he calms down and enjoys life with you and your family, keep us posted!

Debby@Just Breathe said...

That teacher was so sweet. Sounds like the book was a winner! I hope his fears of thunder pass with time.

Anonymous said...

You are so blessed to have an insightful teacher! Wonderful story with a happy ending! PS-Does Pierce like his school bus driver? I hope so... I try to make my bus a safe, happy place for the students I transport.

Lina Staub said...

Hi there! Stopping by after seeing your link on JDaniel4's Mom link up party. I love your blog post! How sweet it was of your boy's teacher to send home that book with him. Sounds like a neat story. I am soooo curious how it turned out with tomatoes as the secret ingredient! Maybe we will have to check out the book from the library and make a Thunder Cake ourselves to test it out. Sounds interesting!

momto8 said...

this is a great story for so many reasons!! the teacher, the mom the kid and the cake!!!

JCMurray said...

I'm surprised that noone else has said "a cake with tomatoes in it???" Does it really taste edible? Intriguing. Maybe just a good way to sneak more vegetables in them? I may have to look this book up.

I used to drive a school bus, and one day a pre-K kid said "I have just had the most horrible day". I think she'd heard her mother say that many times.
It's amazing how many times kids will say un-kid-like things. They're such cuties.

Chatty Crone said...

Awe that thunder cake looked good. sandie

La sonrisa de Hiperion said...

De nuevo por tu casa, disfrutando de las cosillas que nos dejas.

Saludos y buena tarde de domingo.

Angela said...

Sounds like Pierce has a sweet teacher to send home a book like that! I have never heard of a cake with tomatoes in it. Did you really use tomatoes in that cake? It looks good.

Tina Fariss Barbour said...

What a wonderful thing for his teacher to send home that book! That thunder cake looks delicious. A great idea! I hope you had some on hand this past weekend--terrible storms!

Myya said...

Dessert can definitely help a rotten day! :) Looks yummy!!

Liz Mays said...

LOVE this! I actually adore that book and author too. So glad you made that thunder cake!

Nancy said...

This is just the sweetest post, Lisa. The smile on his face is precious. :)

Barbara said...

That thunder cake looks great. I can see why it made him feel better.