Children by nature have a natural intuition when it comes to people, sort of like animals, being human they can foster it by studying the human condition, understanding humanity and playing to it's heartstrings. It's a good defense for creatures that really don't have much defense, "Ahhhh, how cute." can work for all ages, it's the difference between lovers and fighters.
How do you know you're reading minds, making people do stuff and what are they doing?
...the rain should really have no bearing on anything except maybe influencing your emotions to a deeper state that allows your mind some relaxation time to flex and grow, but it in itself would have no special power.