A little worry niggling away in the back of my mind...
Beslan - (that school in Russia taken over by Muslims, where many children were killed).
The muslims could easily try something like that here, considering the wide-spread knowledge that our schools are “gun-free” zones. Of course we are all sure nothing like that could happen “here”, just as we are sure that beheadings could only happen “over there”.
Please let me be totally wrong.
Yup. Belsan scared the snot out of me. I trained my kids well. (Homeschooled them until high school.)
When the Ft. Hood shootings happened, the media was a mess of false reporting. They said that there were shooters in housing and heading to the school. All the local schools locked down.
I texted my daughter and told her the situation. She was to collect her brother and meet me at our agreed-upon location. She was a pro. She asked to go to the bathroom, then slipped down the hall to her brother’s class. She told the teacher that he was wanted in the office. Then they bolted. They already had a route planned out that would give them the best cover. It took me an hour to get through traffic and get to them.
They were calm and handled the situation with practiced precision.
A year earlier, there was a flood that turned the town where their school was located into an island for a day. Desperate parents coordinated, trying to get to our children. It was a mess.
And I’m so proud of how my kids managed it all. My daughter knew that a relative of a friend would be available safe house for her diabetic brother. My daughter stole his insulin from the nurse’s office, yanked my son out of the (horrible, disorganized)school situation, got her brother to safety, and managed to contact me. They were safe and happy when I did manage to get to them.
The flood was worse than the terrorist threat, in reality. The school nurse had left for the day when the waters overtook the place and all of the student’s medication was locked up. Not good for the diabetics. My daughter pulled a freaking Mission Impossible to get her brother’s meds and relocated him to a place with common sense.
Kids are not stupid. They will respond to common-sense training and are capable of reacting to a situation with shocking aplomb.
There was another situation in Texas where they had a single-shooter drill. None of the students were in on it. When it happened, the teacher tried to direct the students to hide under their desks while she locked the door, turned out the lights, and covered the little window.
The boys went into high-gear. They directed the girls out the windows. When the teacher had a fit and told them to stay, one of the boys said, “you can stay if you want,” then they hit the woods as a group. Again, thoughtful students already had a route mapped out.
Beslan only happened because the students sheltered in place, giving the terrorists time to fortify their positions. Had the kids fled in those first few minutes, many lives would’ve been saved. You don’t stay in a burning building after the fire alarm goes off.
Give the kids some credit. Train them and have them go over the scenarios in their minds. Bring up the impossible and remind them of the small stuff. Teach them about guns so they understand how to keep their bodies out of gunfire.