Nerves on a Monday Morning.

~ Laura

I sent my kids to school with some nervousness this morning.

For Jonah, I worry about the stories that he'll hear from his classmates today. I told him very little, and he asked almost no questions. I told him that a terrible thing happened in CT on Friday and some innocent children died, but that this was a one in a million event and it would never happen to him. I told him he was surrounded by people who love him. But I didn't tell him the details. I didn't tell him about the bodies of babies or the brutality of their killing. I'll have to do some damage control, I'm sure, when he gets home. 

I'm worried that he'll pick up the stress from the teachers and the strangeness of seeing armed policemen patrolling his halls. 

For Ian, I worry that ignorant people will look at him and his classmates with suspicion. Those autistic kids. There was some damn stupid things put on Twitter this weekend, and I am deeply fearful of an autism backlash. 

Despite these worries, I let my kids go. I can't wrap them up in plastic and keep them in a fortress. They have to navigate the world with all its beauty and its evil. 

Published by Laura

4 thoughts on “Nerves on a Monday Morning.”

  1. I told my girls a little this morning, because I was unsure what they would hear from others. We had a lockdown on our campus earlier this semester, so they knew that schools have procedures for intruders. We also kept the details to a minimum, and I’m waiting to see what they ask at the end of the day.
    I had to have my husband do the initial conversation though, because this story hits me as a teacher and a mother, and I have trouble talking about it without tears.

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  2. I actually just wrote a blog post saying the same thing…I had great difficulty sending my older two to school, and kept the youngest at home just because I couldn’t bear to send all three.

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  3. I was talking to one of the baristas at our campus Starbucks over the weekend. Her 10-year-old’s teacher told her class about the shooting on Friday during the school day. The barista was not pleased.
    Our kids’ school is reviewing security procedures. They’ll do some sort of drill soon.

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