I am going to start with a prayer.
Lord, please keep all our kid safe. more importantly the public school kids. Please protect them from the devil inside people that shoot up schools. Please keep them safe and if they are called to you by the hands of evil, hold them in your arms and guide them with your love. Kids are not meant to witness this evil so please blind their eyes to it if it happens. please take them before any pain is felt. Please Lord be with them in their fear. Please Lord heal the ones that are injured. Both physically and mentally. Please Lord, as a parent, help those that feel something like this is an option. Please just take the evil away.
Sadly, everyone should know by now but there was another school shooting. At the time of this writing 14 students are dead and a teacher also. Many are injured. It happened in an elementary school in Texas.
My step dads kids were in the Columbine school shooting. they survived. they weren't shot. between Columbine and todays shooting, there have been man many more school shooting.
One year while my daughter was still attending public school, a lady made a threat to shoot up a school in Colorado. They closed all the schools. I told my kids in tears what was happening. I told my daughter the drills they do at the school was because there are evil people out there that do this. The lady's body was found and I told her that. She was scared and said what if she gets out of jail and comes and gets us. I told her the lady was found dead. But the fear was still there. I told her if anything like this happened at your school and she was able to get out of the school, she was to run and not look back. I told her i would make my way to her and nothing would stop me. She was in 2nd grade and my son was in preschool.
I kept them in school until covid hit. Covid helped my husband and I decide home school is what was best for our family.
This post isn't just about school shootings. It is about the safety of the kids in public school. I have been asked by my parents to put my kids back in school. I say no. I don't really go into my reasonings They raised their kids in a different world. My dad moved us to a different city and that took a financial hardship on him, just so I wouldn't go to a violent high school. It was full of gangs and so much evil. I may have become an addict in a much safer school but I wasn't shot and I wasn't bullied. My brother was subjected to bullies and retaliated.
Today kids are bullied and when they fight back, they are the ones in trouble. The schools protect those bullies. They bully to the point some kids end their young lives because they cant take it any more. I will whole heartedly believe its because of lack of discipline. From the parents. We have social media and that has become a parents free full time baby sitter.
They do not monitor what their kids do on social media. They say they trust their kids. Shoot, I trust my 11 year old but I sure do know the kind of things kids do. Kissing and the word sex embarrasses her but that doesn't mean it is the same with people who are patrolling social media for innocent minds and bodies.
One of the excuses I have heard from schools not doing anything about the bullying, is that it happens on social media outside of school and that it is the parents responsibility. Agreed. But Imo it is also the schools job to keep those kids safe. to give them a safe place to tell. Everyone that has time in a child's life is responsible for that child's life. Teachers, parents, friends. Every single person.
I take care of my daughters best friend after school when her mom works. I picked her up one day and I was told there was an incident and her mom needed to contact him. As we walked away I asked what was going on. She told me she was being bullied. I knew she had been for awhile. Keep in mind we live in a small mountain town and the number of students in the whole school is around 60 kids. Everyone knows everyone.
She was sad and we stood outside my car, and I hugged her. I almost cried thinking this sweet child doesn't deserve this. I put her in the car and I walked up to the teacher and said hey this is what is happening and these are the students involved. One of them being the daughter of the PTO president. I said this needs to stop now. This child is not mine but I will protect her like she is. Things are being worked out and school is almost over. This bully picked on a kid so bad she transferred schools. How unfair is that. Another child had to leave a school because this child would make her life so miserable.
So, when people tell me my kids should be in school to socialize, is that what they mean? To either be bullied because they don't fit in the right way, being bullied because the bully is an insecure child and that's what they do, or be a bully so the wrath of a bully doesn't come down upon them, or bully because they are insecure themselves? ASs for me, that is not the socializing I want for my kids.
My kids do socialize. Is it every day. No. But it is better than what is happening in these schools. My kids have friends from church. They have friends from public school. They have friends from homeschool group activities. They go to parks and play with whoever is there. If you want my opinion, they are also receiving a better education.
Am I naive enough to think bad things can't happen any where? Not one bit. again in Colorado, a grocery store was a place for a mass shooting. I cant always keep my kids safe but I will do my best to do so. I have taught them to be loud and scream.
Case in point, I was putting my youngest in a shopping cart. a nice old man came up and said she is beautiful and touches her arm. He meant no harm. But she yelled as loud as she could do not touch me. He laughed and apologized. Sad he was in the wrong. I said I taught her that to keep her safe.
It is on rare occasion but it still happens, a teach sexually assaulting a student. Parents put their trust in teachers to keep them safe when in some cases, they are the ones causing them harm. I have heard more times than I want, that teachers tell the kids don't tell your parents what we talk about here. In these cases it is usually about the transgender and LGBTIQQ things. But what else are they telling students to not tell their parents about. I don't want my kids taught about transgender in a sex ed class. They know about it. They know it because of me. Thats where it should come from. I also believe the sex and body talk should start at home.
I know that some kids don't have a safe home environment, so the school is their safe place. Yay. But keep it safe for all. If you google Recent teachers arrested, you may be as disgusted as I was with everything that popped up. How about you see what happens when you google search suicides caused by bullying.
Schools are no longer safe, and I will do what I can to make sure my kids stay out.
That is all.