Growing together through natural disasters

Natural disasters can be scary. You might notice your baby or child:

  • acts differently from usual
  • seems stressed or worried
  • wants more attention or cuddles
  • cries more or has more tantrums.

To help your child feel better:

  • help them talk about their feelings
  • read storybooks and play games to have fun
  • answer their questions in a way that's suitable for their age
  • try to keep your normal family habits like mealtimes, bathtime and bedtime
  • stay in touch with your child’s teachers and carers
  • make sure your child doesn’t see or hear too much about the natural disaster on the news or TV.

To take care of your child, you need to take care of yourself. Make sure you get enough rest and talk with friends and family about how you're feeling. It's okay to ask for and accept help when you need it.

Watch our Babies, young children and stressful events video to learn more.

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Babies, young children and stressful events

It's always okay to seek help in stressful times. If you need support, please see the resources at the end of this video.

As adults, sometimes we don't realise how much stressful events can affect babies and young children. Separation from a parent or usual caregiver injury or illness. Natural disasters and exposure to violence, whether in real life or on a screen, can all leave children feeling frightened, worried, sad, or angry.

When difficult events like this happen, things can change for the whole family. While adults may be stressing about medical treatment, insurance, the cleanup, the bills, babies and young children may be upset by other things, losing a favourite toy, worrying about their parents. These feelings are all completely normal.

It's important that parents take time to care for themselves first, so they can then provide the best support for their children and help them work out how to respond. While children may be too young to fully understand the facts about what happened or what the future may hold, they can still be affected in many ways.

Even siblings may respond to events differently. Some may have trouble getting to sleep while others have nightmares.

They may start to eat a lot more than before or a lot less. Many children become more clingy following a disruption in their lives. Others may have tantrums or get upset by reminders of what happened. After a stressful event, it's important to help children feel that the world is safe and predictable again.

Most babies and young children recover quickly with support from their parents and other caregivers. Try to reestablish family routines as soon as possible. Soothing activities can help, try gentle rocking or swinging. Listening to music or doing relaxation together. Reading a book about the stressful event can help a child's structure and makes sense of what they've experienced.

Remember, young children often process their emotions through drawing, talking, or play. So it's important to be there for them. Show your child, you are tuned in to how you and they are feeling, and that you'll always listen and care. Sometimes a child may need more support to recover from a difficult time.

If their behaviour continues to be unusual interferes with daily activities like going to childcare and starts to affect their relationships with you or with others. It may be time to get more help. There's lots of support available to help you, your child and your family get back on track after a stressful event.

Remember, it's always okay to get help and support for you and your little ones. Talk with your doctor, child health nurse or another healthcare professional, or check out these online resources.

Booklets for parents and families

Download our booklets on how to take care of yourself and your child in stressful times.

Talking with children about the weather

If a child has gone through a flood or cyclone, they may feel scared of normal clouds, rain or wind.

Help them understand what's happening by checking the Bureau of Meteorology website. Talk with them about what the radar images mean.

You can help a child feel safe by:

  • staying calm, cheerful and relaxed
  • talking, cuddling and reading a story together
  • playing games and singing songs like 'rain, rain, go away'
  • talking about people who helped the last time there was 'big weather' such as a storm.

Talking about thunder

If a child is scared of thunder and lightning, you can:

  • talk about what causes lightning and thunder to happen
  • tell stories about lightning and thunder
  • use torches and musical instruments to make storm sounds
  • play torch games like shadow puppets and silhouette drawing
  • teach children to count the seconds between the lightning and thunder to see how far away the storm is.

Talking about wind

If a child is nervous about strong winds, you can:

  • talk about how the wind is just moving air
  • run, skip and dance
  • play imaginative games such as pretending to be a scarecrow
  • blow bubbles, fly a kite or make a pinwheel to use in the wind.

Talking about rain and clouds

If a child is nervous in rainy or cloudy weather, you can:

  • explain the weather and say things like ‘usually when it rains, it doesn’t flood’
  • have fun in the rain by dancing in gumboots and splashing in puddles
  • draw rainy day pictures.

Information sheets

For more help, download and print our growing together through natural disasters information sheets for:

We also have a hard times parent support card you can download and print as a tool for helping children talk about their feelings.

Children’s books

Birdie’s Tree storybooks help young children get ready, cope and recover from natural disasters. You can read the books for free online or buy print copies for $10 each plus shipping.

You can also find more children's books in our recommendation lists for:

Mental health support

Coping with a natural disaster can be tough. If you need some support for your wellbeing, there's lots of help available.

Call our crisis line on 07 3068 2555 for confidential support 24 hours a day. The crisis line helps children, young people, their families, and carers.

In an emergency call Triple Zero (000).

Helplines

Pregnant, expectant and new parents

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families

There's additional support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families on the following websites.

You can also read Yarning with Jarjums about weather after a storm, flood or cyclone to help Jarjums feel safe in 'big weather'.

Last updated: November 2023