How do you parent when it comes to school shootings?
Not necessarily after it happens, but before. How do you prepare your child for the possibility?
How do you get your school ready? How do you get your community ready?
As Justin Worsham of The Dad Podcast says, you can't stop this from happening. Evil will exist no matter what. So, rather than making the promise that it will never happen again, people need accept it and work towards being ready for it.
"The best move is to move away from a reactive state of mind and into a prepared state of mind. Having drills seems to be more effective than not having them."
Justin explains that while many parents are protective of their child, they shy away from integrating active shooter drills.
"Because being protective would make one think that that is what parents would want, a lot of parents today want to protect their child's innocence, and that could make it difficult for an administrator to conduct such training, because you feel like you are swimming upstream."
In the end, Justin says it comes down to understanding mental health.
"The big thing that I think is becoming a larger part of the conversation is the ability to identify and evaluate a kid's mental health. That, to me, is the most likely way to help and could most likely yield the best results. But, that would mean we would have to set aside our views of 'judgement.'"
To hear more of Justin's take on school shootings and how to parent during those situations, and other parenting topics, you can check out all of his stuff at The Dad Podcast
Check out his latest episode with Andy "ComicBigA" Forrester about talk TV shows on parental guidance and the Tide Pod Challenge.