Here’s A Trend That Needs To Start: How About A National Better Parenting Day?
I don’t feel like writing anything funny today.
Just not in the mood.
For the second consecutive Friday, I, and millions of other parents across the country, have had to deal with a bunch of hysteria over kids allegedly threatening to shoot up schools. In fact, this week’s threat went nationwide, as a trend on TikTok calling for a National Shoot Up Your School Day swept viral with such speed that by Thursday afternoon, schools across the country were all sending out e-mails telling parents about it and saying they were stepping up security, and would understand if parents wanted to keep their kids at home.
This message was sent out to parents of children in the Clinton School System.
The Iowa State Education Association, The Iowa Association of School Boards and School Administrators of Iowa also released a joint statement that read as follows:
Every student deserves a safe place to learn, and every educator, administrator and school staff member deserves a safe place to do their work.
The social media threat of an “American School Shooting Day” is appalling. Whether done as a joke or with malicious intent, it’s unacceptable. We know our school personnel will do everything in their power to keep our students safe. They need all of us to stand with them in that effort.
We ask Iowans across the state to support our educators and the students they serve. Community support is important every day and especially when threats of violence and hateful language ricochet around social media.
They weren’t alone. School districts across the area sent out e-mails. On the Illinois side, Dr. Adam Brumbaugh of the Geneseo School District sent this out:
Dear Parents,
Our district has been made aware of a circulating TikTok post with a nationwide “school shooting or bomb threats for every school in the USA” that will supposedly take place on Friday, Dec. 17, 2021. The original post is general and not directed at a specific school. So far, the origins of this post are unknown and there is no indication it was made by anyone in the vicinity of Geneseo. Regardless, the information has been shared with our school administration and Geneseo Police Department.
Please know that, in conjunction with local law enforcement, we will continue to monitor social media. There are no indications of any known threats for Geneseo at this time. I am sharing this notice out of an abundance of caution and as a precautionary measure.
The safety of our students and staff is our priority. All safety concerns to our school or students are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly. Please take this opportunity to talk with your student(s) about the appropriate use of social media, and the seriousness and resulting consequences of making any kind of threat. Encourage them to speak with you or an adult at school if they see or hear something so that immediate action can be taken. In addition, if anyone in our community sees something suspicious, please report it to the school immediately or call local law enforcement.
Dr. Adam Brumbaugh
The second part of a message sent out to parents of children in the Clinton School System.
Of course, in the aftermath of this, people were quick to throw blame.
Some blamed TikTok and social media, as if these things just generated themselves randomly from an AI and there weren’t actual human beings behind them. Certainly, the ubiquity of social media makes the dissemination of things of this nature far more easier than it was when we were kids and the Internet was confined to dial up and chat rooms, but still, it’s not the media’s fault.
It’s also not the fault of music videos, movies, TV shows, videogames, or anything else of that nature. Millions and millions of kids ingest these things and don’t act like dumbasses. The only people that ingest entertainment and act like dumbasses and do dumbass things are people who were dumbasses long before they watched that movie or played that videogame.
And that leads me to who I believe should start being held responsible for this, and anything else that happens beyond a threat.
The kids themselves.
And, THE PARENTS OF THESE KIDS.
Yes, certainly, the kids are responsible for their own actions. I know it’s in style right now to not take responsibility for anything and to blame it on some element of society that absolves you of the actions you took. But the fact is, no matter what happens to you, no matter what you see or watch or ingest, YOU are the only one who decides what YOU do. So YOU need to take responsibility for it.
But that said, children, particularly the younger they are, are also the responsibility and reflection of their upbringing.
Most definitely, people can transcend horrible upbringing. And, conversely, some kids can become complete jerks despite having great parents. But the vast majority of psychological and sociological studies show that parental influence and a child’s upbringing has a profound influence on how they behave and the decisions they make in their lives.
And so, I think the parents need to shoulder the blame on this one too.
For one, you need to start getting involved in your kids’ lives. You should know how they’re feeling, what they’re doing, who they’re hanging out with, if they’re having a hard time in school, etc. If they are being bullied, call the school and get the school involved. If they’re having mental health issues, get them some help. No matter how much you work, no matter how many kids you have, you can spend quality time with your child. I know people who have multiple jobs, myself included, and a myriad of responsibilities, some people with four and five kids, and we all find a way to make time to have quality time with our children.
Now, of course, kids are their own people, and even if we give them all the support we can and get them help if needed, they ultimately make their own decisions.
And so we get to the problem of school shootings and other violence. A problem that can’t take place without a weapon. Which leads to the point that if by some chance you have guns around the house LOCK THOSE THINGS UP IN A SAFE THAT ONLY YOU HAVE ACCESS TO. And above all, TEACH YOUR KIDS THAT REGARDLESS OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES, IT’S NEVER RIGHT TO RESORT TO EXTREME VIOLENCE.
