As a parent, we are used to getting alerts from our children’s schools aren’t we?
Weather delays, need more money on the lunch account, progress reports, parent teacher conference sign-ups, upcoming bake sales…you know, the usual.
But now, the alerts are much more doom and gloom. And it’s scaring the crap out of me.
This morning on FB, my friends from all over the country were sharing alerts they received from their school. They all read something like this:
“We received a credible report of a planned shooting at our school. Our campus will remain closed until further notice.”
WHAT IN THE WORLD IS HAPPENING?!?
Our kids biggest worry is no longer the pop-quiz in Science…standardized tests…who they’re going to sit next to at lunch or forgetting their sneakers for gym class.
Our children are going to school worried that they’re going to be gunned down.
Our teachers are worried about how they can protect OUR children.
Schools are planning emergency strategies with apparatuses that block doors…chairs that block bullets…emergency call buttons.
If you’re like me, than you’re a parent who is so sick with fear that our school is next.
THIS IS NOT OK.
I’m not going to get into the gun issue. But I do find it laughable that it is harder in this country to get things like SUDAFED, BIRTH CONTROL AND FIREWORKS than it is to get a gun. But again, I’m not going to get into the gun issue.
I’m not going to get into mental health issue. I won’t even touch the fact that it is ABSURD that funding for mental health continues to get CUT DRASTICALLY.
Those two major issues aside, there is another GLARING issue that nobody is talking about: why are these kids lashing out? Why are there kids who have an arsenal building in their bedrooms and a plan laid out that assassinates their peers and teachers?
What are these kids so angry about? Is it because someone broke up with them? Is it because they sit alone at lunch? Is it because their parents have their heads buried in their phones at dinnertime?
It’s time we LISTEN TO OUR YOUTH. LISTEN TO THEM.
They’re hurting. They’re in pain.
Stop settling for an answer of “fine” when you ask them how their day was.
Their world is completely different that ours was when we were growing up.
Riding bikes until the street lights come on…hanging out with friends at the mall…talking to our parents at the dinner table has all been replaced.
Heads are buried in phones…face-to-face interaction has been replaced with social media accounts that are littered with staged poses and heavy filters.
Nothing is REAL anymore.
Something needs done ASAP.
No more just thoughts and prayers.
But before we start pointing fingers and passing the blame…it’s time we start with our own families.
It’s time we take back our homes.
Invest TIME in your children.
Invest TIME in your neighbor’s children.
They need us.
Taught for 35 years and don’t remember one time that I worried about our safety at school. Retired 13 years ago and now I cry for our teachers (who were once my students) and our children who should not have to think about any of this stuff. When are they (the powers that be) going to wake up and do something? Such a sad time for all of us! Amanda, keep talking! Thanks!
You, Amanda, have hit the nail on the head. Too many parents are too busy to take the time to actually spend time with their kids. It’s so much easier to give everybody a phone and bury their heads. If there isn’t a problem it takes no time at all to “ fix” it. Come on parents. These kids are the most important reason you have for living!!!
Amanda, you are so right. I do think gun issues need to be addressed, safety measures in the school… but OMG, you are right. Let us do a system analysis of all the things that are going wrong. Look at what it was like before. Can’t put that genie back in the bottle? We better darn well try to do some of it. Patrick and I went to a movie Mon. There were 5 previews. All 5 of the previews…. ALL 5 , five, cinco… ALL showed 3-4 minutes of young attractive actors using automatic guns killing and exploding good guys, bad guys and everyone else. I thought should parents forbid their kids to go to those movies? Heck, they don’t have that control anymore and besides… THEY are going themselves. They are listening to the crappo music, and it goes on and on. Amanda, we need to take back our families. Parents, please!! And going through their rooms… we didn’t have a room… it was my parents’ house. And then this: “I don’t want to make them mad” Really? Not wanting to make us mad was not even on my Dad’s radar!!! I don’t know, but it is not working and it is guns… but it is not really guns!!! How does a kid have a bedroom full of guns? Keep talking Amanda!
We need to sit down face to face and talk with our kids, grandkids, neighbor kids, friends kids any child and listen to them and support them. It will take all of us to get through this, thanks Amanda keeping it real
Thank you SO much, Amanda, for this post. It takes courage to say the things you did, but courage is what made our country strong. On my Facebook I posted a response to this school shooting violence that came from a teacher of the year. She did not mince words. I hope a lot of people listen carefully to what she said and to you as well. There are a lot of things wrong, seriously wrong, in our country. I am grateful that people like you are willing to speak out. This is not a popularity contest, nor a time to simplify the problem, as though “if we just did this” it would fix everything. I am a retired teacher, and I know one thing for sure: If I were told I had to arm myself with a gun each day I go to my classroom, that’s the last day you’d see me at school. I just have one more thing to add, and that is the hope more people will turn to Christianity and pray together as a family united in Christ. Our country was founded on Christianity, have we lost that common bond?
Amanda I love reading everything you write. and you are so correct but We do need lots more prayer I think.Keep the good work up. Love it!