Run to the Safe People

Run to the Safe People

As a child therapist I hear all the time that kids are scared to go to school. Usually it is because they are being bullied or picked on. They don’t want to go to school because the bullies are being mean. Why should one child have that much control over another child? I was bullied in school as a child. I learned to stand up for myself, so the bullies would leave me alone! Sometimes is worked sometimes it didn’t.

Now I kids are afraid to go to school for another reason. They are afraid someone is going to hurt them or shoot them! The schools do lockdown drills, so kids know what to do if there is an “active shooter” in the building. WHAT!!!! How has our world come to this that people think this is okay? That they are so angry with the world they would want to kill another person and children.

We can blame whoever we want, video games, bad parenting, violence on television, politicians or who ever else we can! The person who’s fault this is, is the person with the gun! They are the bad guy!!! Do you remember when the “good guys” would take out the “bad guys” and protect the innocent? Well, this needs to be put back into place! Kids and teachers need to feel safe going to school again!

We in American, have the right to bare arms. Many generations of military fought for this right! We have the right to protect the innocent from the “bad guys.” If there is an active shooter then the people who have taken the proper steps to be able to carry a gun should be able to use it! That is why they have it, for protection!

I talk to many home schooling families and one reason they give for home schooling their children is to protect them. Do you blame them? Seriously! Kids need to feel safe at school and right now many children do not feel safe!

Instead of teaching children to run away from the police, teach them to go to the police for help! That is why the police are there, to help! Police officers are painted as the “bad guys.” Now, yes there are some police officers that do not do their job right, but does this mean we put them all in this category? NO!

Police officers put their lives on the line every day to help keep us safe, and what do they get in return? They get yelled at, cursed at, assaulted, blamed, and trash talked! All for little pay and they take time away from their families to do all of this! AND, their families worry whether their loved one will come home in one piece or not!

When I talk to children about “safe people” we talk about police officers. I want children to understand that police officers are there to keep them safe from the “bad guys.” My dad was a police officer when I was a kid. He was a good police officer! All my friends knew he was a safe person. He would come to my school and talk to my classmates, so they knew he cared about them! He would hand out candy on Halloween to kids, so they knew police officers cared about them!

We need to go back to where the “good guys” can protect the innocent from the “bad guys.” We need to go back to a time when the “bad guys” got in trouble for their actions and not just dismissed with an attitude of “don’t do that again!” Let the “good guys” do their job so our kids can feel safe at school again!!