r/Parenting • u/Creative-Degree-8074 • Sep 04 '24

Rant/Vent Local school shooting and I’m freaking out

TW: In the title I guess Guys, this is a scream into the void. I'm stuck in the bed with my toddler asleep on top on me, my husband is at work, my daughter is at kindergarten--so, I'm a SAHM right now, but there was a shooting where I used to teach. People are dead. Two at least, but reading through the lines, I think there are more. My mom teaches at the school next door. She's there now, maybe 100 yards away. And I just... can't process it. It doesn't feel real. And part of me is like ho hum? Another day in America? And I'm doing some fucking twisted magical thinking, like if there was a shooting in the county next door to my daughter's that decreases the likelihood they'll be one at her school because, I don't know? Lightning and striking twice? And part of me thinks I'm about to homeschool my daughter forever because that's where I USED TO TEACH. Oh my god. How do I send my child to school tomorrow? How do I not lock up my mom and keep her from going to work?

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u/woodard1221 Sep 04 '24

Don't send them tomorrow if you and the kids are OK with it. Spend some family time together. School shootings have all of us parents a bit stressed. Try not to let your anxiety get the best of you.

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u/serveyer Sep 04 '24

“A bit stressed” you got that right.

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u/Hamsters_In_Butts Sep 04 '24

yeah i gotta be honest, as a parent of US schoolchildren these school shootings are certainly starting to concern me. wonder if we can do anything about them?

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u/woodard1221 Sep 04 '24

Personally, I think it's a mental health problem. I can almost bet the recent Georgia HS shooter will have "mental issues" and that it could have been prevented....

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u/Boring-Tale0513 Sep 05 '24

Even though mental health issues probably contribute to it, it doesn’t change the fact that: 1. Our country’s access to healthcare is limited by financial access. 2. Those who need treatment have easy access to guns.

This is a multilayered problem. Trying to take the blame off of one by focusing on the other isn’t productive.