"Parenting Under Pressure: Preparing for School Emergencies"

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Have you ever struggled to communicate with your teenage children, only to be met with a frustrating "I don't know"? Join me, Donna Janelle, as I share my personal experiences navigating the world of parenting a 16-year-old in the digital age. We explore the profound impact of technology and social media on family dynamics and the unique challenges they pose for modern parents. This episode shines a light on my own journey, grappling with the complexities of raising children today and the emotional toll it takes on both parents and kids.

We face a grim reality in this candid discussion about the increasing frequency and severity of school shootings in 2024. Highlighting a tragic incident in Georgia involving a 14-year-old student, we delve into the critical roles that parents and schools play in preventing such devastating events. Together, we question how children gain access to firearms and emphasize the importance of proactive measures and sharing information. Featuring insights from Whitney, an elementary school teacher, we illuminate the emotional and psychological impact of active shooter drills on children and the necessity of fostering a sense of safety in schools.

Addressing the broader implications of gun violence, we emphasize the need for parental responsibility and mental health awareness. Sharing personal anecdotes about homeschooling my son due to severe bullying, we discuss the vital importance of open communication and the need for parents to create a supportive environment. The episode concludes with a poignant prayer for the safety of our children, teachers, and school staff, calling for innovative strategies to protect our youth and ensure their well-being. Join us as we navigate these pressing issues and strive to parent with purpose.

Parents are the Bows and Children are the Arrows they will land wherever we aim them eventually!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Thank you.
Hey everybody, welcome back toPanther With Purpose.
I am your host and one and onlyDonna Janelle, where we strive
to bring back the responsibility, nobility and beauty back into
parenting.
As you know, it is a hard.
Not life out here for parentsis.
The struggle is real.
You know, I'm an old schoolparent.

(01:37):
I've been this thing for 25years and let me tell you I done
seen some crazy stuff inparenting, some stuff that make
me question my own parentingright.
Kids these days, technologythese days, just everything, the
school system, the community,the state, like everything.
It just seems like it's goinghaywire right and make you think
like am I doing the best thingfor my child?
Am I being the right parent?

(01:59):
Matter of fact, get somebodyelse to do it.
That's what I feel sometimes.
Like you know, I have four kids, right, the oldest is 25 and
the youngest three, though the18, 16 and the other 16 year old
.
They make me question my parentsin every day.
Like am I speaking English?
Do you understand English?
Like what is really going on?
Because sometimes I ask themquestions and all I hear is I

(02:20):
don't know.
Like I don't even know.
I don't know what's a statement?
Like why would?
You don't know.
I don't know what I don't know.
Okay, so sometimes I question myown parents and, like today, I
just was like with my 16 yearold son listen, get somebody
else to be his mom.
Today I really want to tap out,I want to run down the street
because I can't even get a clearanswer from him.
Now, when he was younger he wasable to give me clear answers,

(02:41):
but right now, the 16 year old,I don't know if he don't want
his mom in his business, butevery time I ask him a question,
I don't know, like if I evensay what is that color?
I don't know, as if he don'thave glasses and he can't see.
I'm telling you it made mequestion my parenting.
Sometimes I just want to rollout and say, listen, somebody
else come in here and do it.
But I know most of your parentsfeel that way too, because it

(03:03):
is a struggle parenting,especially in this day and age.
You know, parenting where I wasparenting 25 years ago.
Listen, the stuff that I dealtwith my daughter not compared to
the stuff that I do with theteenagers now, even just the
fact of like this digital worldwith technology, like you know,
I'm glad that they had theinternet, but and I'm glad that

(03:24):
they have like they can interactin social media and things like
that, but sometimes they justtake it way too far where it
seems like they just get so much, so many different types of
influences in their life, and itkind of brings a challenge into
parenting, right?
So what we want to talk abouttonight though y'all tonight is
a hot topic and I kind of triedto get people on the show
tonight y'all Tonight is a hottopic and I kind of tried to get
people on the show tonight,y'all but I think this is a

(03:45):
topic that a lot of people don'twant to talk about.
A lot of people are dealingwith but they don't want to talk
about, and we're going to betalking about school shootings,
active drills, active shooterdrills.
You know, growing up, you knowI'm dating myself but the only
thing that we had to worry aboutin school was fire drills, and
that was a little bit scaryy'all.
The fire drill was a little bitscary for me.
Um, everybody lined up.

(04:06):
I couldn't go outside with mycoat on.
I used to be cold in thewintertime and we had to go
outside in the freezing cold, inthe snow.
That was like.
That was the thing that I wasworried about was being cold.
Right, these kids these days itis so different they got the,
the active shooter drill, theygot the fire drill, they got the
um, the bombing.
It's like, you know, shelter inplace type drills, like I've

(04:27):
never even heard of that as achild.
Shelter in place, literally thedrills we had, like I said, was
fire drills.
You just run out the building,that's what.
The nearest exit, that's all wehad to know, was the nearest
exit, right, um, even when wethink about at home, I remember
growing up even everything wasabout a fire drill.
Nothing was about anybodyactively coming in your house or

(04:49):
anything like that, coming toyour community, blowing up the
community.
It was none of those things wehad to think about.
The only thing I recallthinking about when I was
younger you know, growing up ina project was you know we had
people shooting, right, we havemass shootings, that we have
drive-bys and things like that.
So you know, when you starthearing a little argument, you
just hit the ground.
So did you make sure thatbullet when it comes through

(05:10):
your door it's not going to hityou or your children?
That's the only thing that Iremember as a child growing up
about this.
So, right now, there have been46 school shootings.
We are in 2024 right now.
This is September, y'all Canyou count it?
September?
We are in the ninth month.

(05:35):
There have been 46 schoolshootings, and it is CNN.
Education study shows that itis going to be more than that by
the end of the year, at therate that we're going Now.
When we talk about schoolshootings, we're talking about
shootings that's on schoolgrounds, right, shootings that
are happening either in theparking lot of the school, the
playground or in the schoolright Lately, if you guys notice
, what we're seeing, though, isnot just a school shooting.

(05:58):
We're seeing a mass shooting,because multiple people are
being injured and multiplepeople are dying behind the
hands of a gun, and the crazything about it is when you look
at the stats.
Right, these are childrenshooting children.
These are children shootingteachers.
These are my first question.
You know we all about parenting.

(06:19):
How the heck did these childrenget these guns right?
How did these guns get into thehands of our children and then
was able to leave their housewith the gun and go to school
and shoot up the place.
It's very scary, right, it's avery scary thought.
So what really made me thinkabout this topic is you know,

(06:40):
there was just a recent schoolshoot in Georgia, right, ala
Pouchy, I think it's called Imight be chopping the name up
because you know, peoplepronounce things differently but
based on the spell, alapouchee,school shooting and several
people, several kids, died.
You know, school officials diedand it really kind of got to my

(07:01):
stomach.
It really kind of made me sickin the stomach, like what the
heck is going on, and I thinkthe most disturbing thing that I
found when I was researchingthis is that the father so
here's this thing the situationin Atlanta.
Let's talk about that first.
There's a lot of situations,right, but the situation in

(07:22):
Atlanta, because that was justthe most recent one the young
man 14 years old who was theperson who shot the people, who
basically killed people andinjured people Four people died,
19 injured, serious injured,two students to school teachers.

(07:47):
I think what's the mostdisturbing thing is that the dad
knew that his son was a dangerto society.
This young man was already atanother school and he had some
instances was very questionableand that he was on the school
watch list, right, the schoolwas watching for him, watching
every move that he make, andthings like that, because there
have been some questionableinstances, right.

(08:08):
And so what the dad did was thedad transfer his son to a new
school, did not inform theschool of any of this
information.
Now, one, the dad, why, whywould you do that?
Why would you do that?
Two, the other question is whatkind of information does a
school share with each other sothat we know that the proper
information is being shared, sothat the school knows what's

(08:30):
going on with this situation?
That's the other thing.
So I feel like the ball wasdropped in that situation.
However, the dad brought theweapon, the dad brought the gun.
So the father knew that hischild was a danger to society.
He purchased a weapon for hischild.
Therefore, his child was ableto take that weapon and go to

(08:52):
school and this was a new school, this that he has missed school
several times, um, already inthe school year.
I think.
They said he had already missednine days of school in the
school year, um, and then, whenhe finally did go to school, you
know, he asked his teachercould he go and go speak to
someone?
And they said yeah.
So then the student was hiding.

(09:13):
They were looking for himaround the building because he
didn't go where he said he wasgoing to go, and they were
looking for him.
Turns out he was hiding in thebathroom, um, but the thing is
that he came into school with anassault rifle.
Do you know how big an assaultrifle is?
It's not something that youhide in your pocket or anything
like that.
He had a bag.
The rifle was already puttogether.
He did not have to take it outand put it together, it was

(09:35):
already put it together.
He came into school with aloaded assault rifle.
That don't even make sense inmy mind.
I'm just saying so anyway.
So the father, though, is nowbeing charged with murder as
well, because he allowed hischild to have to have the gun,
and he knew his child was adanger to society.

(09:57):
So my question to parents, um,is if you know that your child
is a danger to themselves or tosociety, do you feel that you're
obligated to act upon that,meaning that, have a
conversation with the school,make sure your child gets mental
health Like.
What part do parents play whenwe're dealing with situations

(10:21):
like this?
Particularly, that's a mentalillness.
That is a mental illness,because that is not a stable
mind, right.
So what part do we play in thisright?
So yeah, 46 school shootings.
You know several kids died,several teachers died and it's
crazy because at one pointteachers were having to deal
with behavioral issues.
Like you know, you're talkingtoo much in class, you don't

(10:43):
know how to sit.
Still, you know a lot ofyitty-yat stuff Like what we
look at now in this smallcomparison, what they have to
deal with now.
So they were dealing withbehavioral issues they're
dealing with.
Some of these kids were alreadybeing abused coming to school.
Some of these kids were alreadyhungry.
So the teacher is dealing withall this.
But now the teacher got tothink about their own safety.

(11:07):
Am I going to make it home tomy family?
Will the children make it backhome to their parents?
That is scary.
So I read an article the otherday and that really kind of
piqued my interest.
I would say One of the youngladies from my church.
She had shared an article andit was just basically a
statement from a five-year-oldkid and they were doing active

(11:29):
shooter drills at school and ifany of you know what an active
shooter drill is, it's reallyalmost as if an intruder has
entered and they're activelyshooting.
So there's plans in place sothat our children can be safe.
So this thing started startsearly as preschool.
So the five-year-old came homeafter being in school for a week

(11:50):
and you know they had to dothis very early after shooter
drill and he said to his fatherhe was like dad, I don't want to
wear light-up sneakers toschool anymore.
Dad's like you love light-upsneakers.
Why would you not?
You know they're brand newsneakers.
You went to the store, youpicked them out.
You're excited.
You know they're just amazingsneakers.
I thought that that's what youwanted.

(12:11):
No, dad, I love my sneakers,but they're not safe for me.
So the dad responded what doyou mean?
Your sneakers aren't safe foryou?
He said well, if we have ashooter, an actor shooter, and
my sneakers light up, they'regoing to find me and kill me and
kill my classmates and kill myteachers.

(12:31):
Yo, that thing had me to thefloor.
I really was like wait, what Afive-year-old now have to check
their wardrobe, change theirwardrobe and the things that
they like, just to become safe.
If that's not scary, I don'tknow what it is.
As a parent, you know we wantour kids to look the best.

(12:54):
You know they like light upsneakers.
Let's do it.
You know they even be havingthese light up clothes.
If you're like me, like I likeflashy clothes, I like sparkles,
I like diamonds, I like bling.
So just imagine, though, likenow, that I'm thinking about so.
If I'm going to a store and orif I'm in a bank and we have an
active shooter like yo, myclothes are going to be sparking
, like I'm going to be sonoticeable, right, and they're

(13:16):
going to be able to single meout based on what my attire is.
But why does a four-year-old orfive-year-old have to think
about their school attire?
That is not what they'resupposed to be thinking about.
They're supposed to think aboutI'm going to school, gonna hang
out with my friends, I'm gonnago learn some new stuff, um, but
they're about what they'redressed like.
That's scary.
Why?

(13:37):
Why?
Why?
That's my question.
Like, why, all of a sudden?
And study shows that, accordingto CNN education study in safe
schools.
It shows this is a 2024 study.
This just came out in Februaryof this year.
It shows that again, 46,.

(13:57):
What did it show?
Listen, I'm just so like crazybecause I'm so upset the fact
that our kids have to deal withthis, but um, it showed, it was
a study that showed um.
Oh, there we go.
I'm sorry y'all came back to meum, out of the 46 school

(14:20):
shootings um this year, itshowed that um 13 were in uh
university colleges oruniversities and the others were
um k through 12, k through 12,um, so yeah, so basically, okay,
here it is.
Uh, you know, I gotta go backto my notes uh, through the 46

(14:43):
school shootings this year,resulting in 20, uh 24 fatality
and 62 people were injured, um,so 24 people died, 62 were
injured, based on these schoolshootings of this year so far.
Um, and according to um,another study that I read.
Actually, if you guys go toSandyHookPromiseorg, you'll find

(15:06):
a lot about school shootingsand what to do and how to
prevent them or how to prepareyour children.
As you know, sandy Hook was Ithink I feel like that's the
first one I actually was itColumbine or Family Hook?
Sandy Hook, I think, becauseColumbine was the high school
and Sandy Hook was theelementary school where there
was a mass shooting in there.
So Sandy Hook, I think, becauseColumbine was the high school
and Sandy Hook was theelementary school where there
was a mass shooting in there.
So Sandy Hook now has anorganization where they talk

(15:30):
about the school shootings.
They talk about how to prepareyour kids and they list all the
statistics on there Out of that.
Prior to that they didn't dothat, but once they had the
situation happen where somebodycame in and shot up the school,
they took a lead into makingpeople aware of what's going on,
right?

(15:51):
So we have questions on Facebook, right?
Right now, one of the questionsfrom my co-host, pam.
She said why should a childhave to consider that?
Why should a child have toconsider their attire, right?
Just as I said, pam, it's crazy.
Like light up shoes, bling andoutfits.
They're attractive, right.
We wear them because we likethem.

(16:13):
They're attractive, they'reflashy, right.
So just imagine that you're inschool and the active shooter
and they see it like, they seethe flashiness and they go right
to it.
You become a target, ourchildren become a target.
So that's a little scary.
But the other question is soare we checking our children's

(16:37):
belongings?
I don't think that most parentsthink about checking their
children's backpack.
I think that a lot of parentswill say bring me your homework,
bring me your schoolwork, giveme your stuff out of your
backpack, but not necessarily goand kind of search their
backpack.
Because why would you search achild's backpack?

(16:57):
What would you think that wouldbe in there?
Like, would you think that theyhad a gun in there?
No, I wouldn't think that mykid had a gun in there.
Um, I wouldn't.
I wouldn't even think to.
You know, where I searched mykids backpack when they was
younger is to make sure theygave me all the school work and
all the information, because youknow they send papers home and
kids just give you half thestuff.

(17:18):
Or, if they got in trouble,they had a letter.
So that's why I was trackingthat backpack.
It wasn't.
Oh, did they have a weapon inthere?
So it's, it's, it's crazy,because they're taking guns to
school, they're taking knives toschool, um, they're taking a
lot of things to school.
Um, and we'll get into thatother stuff.
Like, even, like, I found outthat elementary kids are vaping.

(17:40):
You know there's a lot of stuffgoing on when we talk about
children and safeness in school.
Um, but this actor shooterdrill, like, how do you, as
parents, feel?
Like, do you guys have theconversation with your, your
children about, uh, schoolsafety?
Like after, uh, actor shooterdrills, the fire drills, uh, the

(18:02):
shelter in place drills, justin case there was some bombing,
like or what?
Do you have these conversationswith your school?
Because I know, with yourstudents, because I know that
the schools are having theseconversations as early as
preschool.
So as parents or you or wehaving these conversations with
our students, I honestly did nothave a conversation with my

(18:23):
students, my children, initially, because, like I don't know,
probably like most parents, likewe're kind of oblivious to the
fact, like it's like I don'tknow, naive maybe, like, oh,
that's not going to happen atour school or we're safe around
here, we live in a safeneighborhood.
You know, probably, that Iprobably was a little naive back
in the day until, um, one oneof my daughters, the 16 year old

(18:46):
that test, my inner gangstery'all I remember she was in, I
think, fourth grade and, um, theschool had called me because
she was having a really hardtime with these active shooter
drills.
Like she was already having ahard time with, like the fire
drills, just the loud noise andthings like that.
But she was having a reallyhard time with, like the fire
drills, just the loud noise andthings like that.
But she was having a reallyhard time because what happened

(19:08):
was like these kids were busedaway from the school.
It was crazy, like the drillthat they had, that they would
put these kids leave out asecret door, I think in the back
of the building, and then theywould load these children into a
bus and take them away from theschool, right, um, because of a
threat of a bomb or for school,right, and she had a hard time,

(19:32):
um, dealing with it.
So the school called me andthat was the first time that I
found out that my kids actuallyhave to go through bomb drills.
Actor shooter um, a shelter inplace.
You're like I never heard of itbefore and maybe I just never
paid attention to it.
Um, but I don't recall sayingany paperwork coming home for
him.
So my daughter was having ahard time and I was like, wow,

(19:55):
so that's when I began to starthaving a conversation with my
children about it, because itwas a real thing.
It was happening across theworld Um, not as much as
happening now, but it was reallyhappening across the world.
Not as much is happening now,but it was really happening
across the world.
And I used to be like why doschools have to have metal
detectors for kids to go toschool?
Right, like, why would theyhave metal detectors in

(20:16):
elementary school, middle school, you know, high school?
Because kids get a littlewayward in high school and they
kind of just do things that theywant to do.
So I can see why you would havemetal detectors in high school
and they kind of just do thingsthat they want to do.
So I can see why you will havemetal detectors in high school,
elementary and middle schoolstudents.
Like why would they need tohave metal detectors?
Now I know why, right, y'all.
So we have a comment onfacebook, y'all.

(20:37):
I'm going to be pausing for thecomments because I really want
this to be an interactive thing.
It says um, so I have a lady onhere on Facebook I'm just going
to say her full name, butWhitney.
She says as an elementary schoolteacher, the first thing I look
for in my classroom is a hidingspot for my babies to go.
I have done this every yearWhoa flag on the play.

(20:59):
Where's my flag?
As an elementary school student, the first thing that she looks
in her classroom is a hidingspot for her and her children.
Not, you know, just hello, goodmorning, how you doing.
You know we're coming in.
How was your weekend?
Before we even get into allthat, we got to see where we're

(21:19):
going to hide at.
That is scary.
I'm sorry, whitney, that youhave to deal with that in this,
this society, and that you know,especially in elementary school
, like these babies are innocent, first of all, any age.
I don't think this should behappening across the world, but
especially, you know, becauseour children are, um, at the age
of elementary school, wherethey're very moldable, right,

(21:41):
they're sponges and they theyreceive, and this is how they're
going to process the world,based on what they're learning
in elementary school of how todeal with people, how to deal
with society and how, uh, thingsare affecting them, right,
cause they take that, you know,with them the rest of their life
.
Like I remember stuff when Iwas five years old, like I'm 44.
I remember stuff when I wasfive and the fact that they got

(22:01):
to think about ordering on ahigh.
That is very scary Um, wow, um,that's that's, that's sad, and
that is just proving my pointthat that even in elementary
schools, I, you, you see that itwas from K to 12 and most of it
.
It was in the um elementaryschool where kids were actually
the the mass shootings had takenplace.

(22:22):
Um, actually, the massshootings had taken place and a
lot of innocent children weretaken out.
So I was reading.
It says each day, 12 childrendie from gun violence in America
and another 32 are shot andinjured.
Guns are the leading cause ofdeath among American children,
teens.

(22:42):
One out of 10 gun deaths areage 19 or younger.
In fact, firearms death occurat a rate more than five times
higher than drowning.
Now you know, drowning was likethe number one thing that under

(23:02):
19 was dealing with.
Right, it was drowning.
Kids were drowning like crazybecause you think somebody's
watching them, they think you'rewatching them and then things
happen.
But they said five times higherthan drowning.
Do you know what the rate is indrowning?
This thing says that thefirearm death was five times
higher.
Since 1999, 338,000 students inthe US have experienced gun

(23:23):
violence at school.
338,000 students haveexperienced gun violence at
school since 1999.
I knew I wasn't sure ifColumbine was before or after
Sandy Hook, but it was.
It was in 1999.
Matter of fact, in 99, I was 19.
Wow, so since then it has justbeen on the rise Whitney's

(23:51):
comment again.
She says I make them high andtell them if I can see them from
different points.
Don't go near the door, don'tbe in a view of the window.
Man, that's scary.
Like a game of hide and seekhas to really be a game of
safety like and hide from danger.
That's so scary, man, like,just, you know, the whole

(24:14):
peekaboo thing like that bringsthat to another level.
Peekaboo hide and seek, likeyou know.
Things that we learned when wewas little.
We thought we was having funand hiding from our parents.
It's really to make sure that,uh, that they're safe.
Um, whitney, I like that though.
I like that you use it as youknow hide from different angles
to see if you can see them, um,and, but the thing is that don't

(24:37):
be in view of the window.
Uh, don't be near a door, likethey're the the things that
specific directions for them sothat they know that they're
hiding.
It has to be so that nobody canfind them at all, not even a
teacher, right?
That's a little scary.
Um, wow, um, I'm like.

(24:57):
I'm really kind of like infrustration because our children
have to deal with so much.
Our children have to deal withso much as it relates to really
trying to pursue their education.

(25:18):
Trying to pursue theireducation.
You know, academia is soimportant, and they can't even
do that peacefully because ofthe minds of individuals who are
disturbed.
The question I do have for youguys on Facebook, though is or
anywhere is if you know yourchild is a danger to society, do

(25:42):
you feel that you'reresponsible to alert the
authorities, or how would youhandle that situation?
How would you talk about it?
Yeah, that that, how would youdo it?
Because, as a parent, you knowyou want your child to be safe.
You want those around you to besafe.
Wow, you know you want yourchild to be safe.

(26:03):
Uh, you want those around youto be safe.
Um, wow, I have another thing.
I'm gonna be, uh, looking at mynotes, because there's a lot of
facts that that I've seen andthat's just crazy.
It says 4.6 million americanchildren live in a home where at
least one gun is kept loadedand unlocked.
These improperly stored weaponshave contributed to school

(26:24):
shootings, suicides and thedeath of family members,
including infant and toddlers.
4.6 million, 4.6.
That's not a small number.
4.6 million American childrenlive in a house where guns are
locked and unloaded.
Locked and loaded I'm sorry,loaded and unlocked, ready to be

(26:47):
used, and that's a lot of thesebeen used in these school
shootings.
As a parent, when you get arandom call from your child, how
are you reacting or keepingyour child calm?
Example like my daughter.
She called because she wascrying, because she felt like it
was a drill, but it was like somuch real life that she was

(27:10):
scared.
And, mind you, this daughterI'm talking about I adopted
because my sister and herhusband passed away.
So she's already had, by theage of six, she's already lost
both parents.
And now she's in fourth gradeand we have any bomb threats and
these actor shooter things andshe's afraid that she's going to
live, lose her life as well.

(27:31):
Now, the crazy thing about thatis that prior to that situation
, I remember her wanting noteven wanting to live, because
both of her parents were alreadydeceased and she felt like she
didn't have anything and shedidn't want to live.
So it was really me coachingher back to want to understand
why God had a purpose for herhere on this earth.
So now I'm getting her back towant to be alive.

(27:53):
Right, I wanted her to enjoylife at eight years old.
And then we have this situationwhere she's like I'm afraid I'm
going to die.
That's crazy, right, that'sscary.
Another question Do you feelthat your children need help or
do you think you should getyourself help as well?

(28:13):
So you know, sometimes,especially in a situation when
we think about the young manthat was just shot and killed,
those in Atlanta I think theparents need to help too,
because any parent like youcan't be in your right mind to
know that your child is a dangerto society and provide your

(28:36):
child a weapon to go be a dangerto society.
You're not in your right mind.
So I think both parties needhelp, definitely.
I remember now this is me beingreal, transparent and talking
about what happened to me.
I remember probably I guesswe're going on about two years.
About two years ago my son wasninth grade.

(29:01):
He was 14 years old and he wasbeing bullied.
I didn't know he was being myson's very quiet y'all.
He was very quiet, he doesn'tbother anybody, he kind of goes
to school, do his work and hewould which I'll quote, um,
maybe quote like a nerd, like hewas always in the books, he
didn't't play any sports, heliterally just was all about
education and technology andthings like that.

(29:22):
So he had went to.
The school that he went to waspredominantly a white school and
he was being bullied, but theway he was being bullied, he
never shared that with me.
Whenever I asked him how wasschool going?
What you know?
What did you do?
He's very quiet, very quiet.
So he was like nothing, it wasall right.
School was normal.
School was normal.

(29:42):
So I did what I didn't know.
The normal part was him beingbullied every day.
Um, they would talk about hisrace, um, they would call him,
you know, oreo, meaning thatyou're black on the outside but
you're white on the inside.
They were, um, he was walking,they were like knocking his
books out his hand and thingslike that.
But I didn't know Right, andlet me tell you how this thing

(30:04):
came to a hit, even though I'masking him every day how school
was.
His quote to me was school wasnormal, the same old, same old.
So I didn't think normal meantyou getting bullied.
However, it came to a pointwhere he started to have like
homicidal thoughts.
Right, he started to reallywant to hurt the people.

(30:24):
That was hurting him, or reallywant yeah, I really wanted to
hurry and injure somebody and hehad wrote different pages,
little short stories about howhe was going to do it.
He was very detailed y'all andhe said to me this is important
about having a relationship withyour child, though, even though

(30:45):
he was telling me that it wasnormal, school was normal but at
one point he said to me he said, mom, I don't like the thoughts
that I'm having.
Skirt flag on the play, whatyou mean, the thoughts that I'm
having, are very disturbing.
They're not of of me.
I want to hurt somebody.
And he showed me some papersthat he had wrote and it
basically was a detail of how hewas going to hurt people.

(31:08):
And I said to him I was like, doyou feel right now, in this
moment, that you're a danger toyourself or society?
He said, in this moment, I justknow I need help, I don't know
anything else.
So me as a mom, first of all,I'm like a very he said, in this
moment, I just know I need help.
I don't know anything else.
So me as a mom, first of all,I'm like a very active mom and I
understand mental health,mental illness very much, and

(31:31):
I'm a pediatric nurse, so I'veseen a lot.
You know, I've been a pediatricnurse for 19 years now and I've
seen a lot of things,especially working in the
adolescent area and also being acourt appointed special
advocate for kids in foster care.
So I've seen a lot ofadolescents and youth uh
situation.
So when he said to me that hedidn't like his own thoughts, I

(31:52):
said okay.
As a mom I felt like pause.
I contacted his doctor, tookhim into the doctor, had an
evaluation.
They said he was safe to gohome with me, that he just
needed some therapy.
24 hours later my son istelling me Mom, no, I still need
this, is not?
It was like something like fireor urge in him to really hurt

(32:16):
somebody, not just hurtsomething.
I'm talking about hurt somebody, not just hurt something.
I'm talking about hurt somebody.
So as a mom, like you know, forme as a mom I felt like I've
dealt with children that hadmental disturbances due for
whatever situation they were in,and I couldn't.
At first my first thought waslike I just can't have a child

(32:39):
like going to a mentalinstitution given, especially
being that my son was so quietand very, very high social
anxiety that I thought it wasgoing to be more damaging to him
.
But I also knew, as a mom, thatI couldn't provide the safety
at home that he needed because Ididn't know how deep this thing

(33:02):
was.
So he goes and he hasevaluation and he gets put in a
mental institution.
Was it hard for me?
Absolutely yes.
But I felt as a mom that I couldnot allow my son to be in
society at the moment until hegets healed, because I can't see

(33:22):
of him taking himself out oranybody else.
Like it wasn't just about myson, it was about the students
around him, it was about theschool, it was about the
community.
Like I didn't want thissituation for anybody to be
injured.
Although I was hurt as a parent, I was like where did I drop
the ball at what was going on?
But at the same time I knewsafety was a priority.

(33:44):
It hurt me.
I cried every day while my sonwas institutionalized and my son
went on a hunger strike likebecause again, he had social
anxiety.
So there was like this wholemajor thing that we had to do in
order to make sure that societywas safe, make sure that he was
safe, and as a mom, you don'twant to put your kid away but at
the same time you don't wantnobody to die from the hands of

(34:06):
your child.
So there comes a point we asparents have to be responsible
enough and say listen, not on mywatch, this is my baby, I love
you, but right now you need help.
And so when I saw the situationwith the father, with the son
with the mental illness and andhe gave warning signs and he
already had some questionableactivities I was really hurt the

(34:29):
fact that the father didn'ttake it upon himself to get his
son out of society and reallyget the help that he needed.
Um, because I know I had to dothat for myself, I had to do
that for my son, I had to do itfor the.
I had to do that for my son, Ihad to do it for the community.
And does he still struggle withit?
Absolutely, he doesn't havehaimosato thoughts or suicidal
thoughts anymore, but he stillstruggled with some other things

(34:49):
, right?
So right now, as two years later, we're just coming, you know,
kind of still processing throughit, but my son's homeschooled.
He homeschooled because it wastoo hard for him to be able to
be functionable in society and,um, he wanted to be homeschooled
.
Here's the thing he knew, likethat, there was something going

(35:11):
on in his mind that was nothealthy.
He knew that it was badthinking.
Because of the way I raised him, he know that's not what he's
supposed to do.
He wanted to be homeschooled.
He said, mom, I need to behomeschooled because school is
making me worse.
He knew his triggers.
He knew the signs and symptomsof what was taking him to
another level, and that wasliterally.

(35:32):
And that's when we found outthat he was being bullied in the
situations that he was enduring.
So he homeschooled straight Astudent.
Now, you know, he's beenhomeschooled for a year.
He's go to therapy.
He doesn't have any of thesethoughts.
But at the same time, as aparent, you're like why take
somebody out of society whenthey have a social issue?
Because we need to expose themto it, but not on the cost of

(35:55):
someone else.
I'm sorry, I'm not that parentthat's going to allow my child
to go to school, knowing that hehas negative thoughts about the
school and the people.
That's not on my watch.
I'm not doing that.
I'm just not doing that.
I don't want somebody else todeal with any pain under the
hands of my own child.
So, yes, he's out of school,he's doing much better, but

(36:18):
homeschool is working for him.
He's very quiet.
But I said all that to say that,just to tell you.
Listen, even though I'm doingthis parenting with a purpose
thing, listen, I have my ownissues as parenting and this is
why I try to get parents engaged.
This is why I think it's suchan urgency right now for parents
to be active in theirchildren's life, to really have

(36:39):
these conversations with thesechildren, open conversations.
What is their mental status?
Because you could be the bestparent in the world.
You could give your childreneverything that they need.
I mean, I'm talking about notjust food, clothes and shelter.
You're giving them emotionalsupport, but they still are
their own person and they havesome thoughts that we need to
address so that we don't behaving a candlelight because

(37:01):
this child decided to take outthe whole school no, not on my
watch.
I don't care what y'all say, andI think parents you know, I
know it's hard, but at the endof the day, what are we going to
do with our children?
How are we going to providesafety?
Because we have aresponsibility, not just for our
children, for other people'schildren as well.
So we have to do the best forour children, the best for

(37:22):
society.
You know we can't be naive andact like nothing's going on.
So the other question is likewhat could we ask our children
besides, how was your day?
And their response like that'sa lesson learned from me.
How was your day?
Oh, it was normal, and you takeit.
Oh, it was normal and you takeit.
Oh it was normal.
Normal, what is normal?
I'm gonna need you to elaborateon that.

(37:43):
I need some clarification,because I clearly don't
understand what normal is,because that word is used a lot,
so I don't know what's normalfor you.
Are you just accepting any oldthing?
Like now we can say that actorshooter drills are normal.
Hide and seek my teacher tryingto find somewhere to somewhere
for us to hide in the beginningof class that's normal.

(38:04):
I want to know about that,though.
I want to have thoseconversations.
Are we having theseconversations with our kids,
right?
That's one of the things.
Sometimes we, as parents, likewe're so busy, right, right,
busy, and when I say busy, I'mtalking about busy on the phone,
busy on social media, busyentertaining people, but when it

(38:27):
comes to our kids, we reallydrop the bomb sometimes that
we're not giving, we're notintensive, like we're not being
present in the presence, right.
And I think that when we hearfrom our children, we'll then
realize that, okay, kids justwant their time, they want to be
heard, they want to know thatthey're safe.
You know our job as parents isto provide a safe environment.

(38:47):
So what does safety look like?
What does safety look like athome?
What does safety look like atschool?
And how do we have aconversation with our kids so
that they understand that, yes,it's bad people in the world,
yes, that we have to now havethese type of drills, but it's
all for your safety.
So, teaching your children howto be alert, diligent and

(39:10):
sober-minded, keeping a soundmind, how you keep a
five-year-old to be sober-minded, a sound mind as a
five-year-old is very difficult,right.
But to the point where they haveto be so attentive to their
environment that they understandwhen something's off, because,
believe it or not, it's not justthat there are teenagers or

(39:30):
adults are coming in theseschools, killing, shooting up
the school, like there'selementary kids shooting the
five year old that took a gunand shot the teacher.
Do you remember?
I think it's about two yearsago.
Two to three years ago, thefive-year-old shot the teacher
and the teacher.
The crazy thing, this is whatI'm talking about.
The teacher had reported thatthe child was a behavioral

(39:52):
problem, like high alert, keptgoing to the principal telling
the principal that this is whatthe child is saying.
This is what's going on withthe child.
The child is threatening melike a five-year-old, right, and
they didn't take it serious.
That the administration of theschool did not take it serious,
even though the teacher keptcoming back on various occasions
documented occasion that thischild is disturbed and that is

(40:16):
causing a major issue in theclass and the child is
threatening me, right.
The school didn't take itserious.
That child brought a gun toschool and shot the teacher.
You guys five years old so whenI talk about Pam was talking
about look at their book bag.
This is what we're looking for,their book bag now for we're
not just looking at notes forschool, we're looking to make

(40:37):
sure that they don't haveanything that's a danger to
anybody, whether it's a knife, agun, whatever they have that
could be a danger to anybody.
And not just looking at a bookbag, but having that
conversation, that to checktheir mental status.
I think that we really need tocheck on our children mentally,
right Before you know, it wasall about the physical food,

(41:00):
shelter and clothing.
But now we really have thesekids, have dealt with a lot.
Study shows that since COVID,y'all, since COVID, covid 2020,
documented, covid 2020, right,um, but since COVID, because we
know that once COVID wasdocumented on the scenes and a

(41:22):
lot of most states besidesFlorida and some of the other
southern states did not shuttheir schools down, but most
states up here, up north andaround the world really shut
their schools down, right.
So these kids were no longerable to socialize with their
friends, no longer to beobserved by their teachers, to
see what was going on.

(41:42):
They were really isolated.
You listen, as parents, we knowwhat it was like to have, and
during COVID and you had yourkids home all day, every day,
can't go out, can't do nothing,right?
Most parents was losing theirmind because they're not used to
dealing with their kids.
They're not used to interactingwith their kids.
They're used to the school,taking care of their kids.

(42:02):
So when the parents had to doit, they were so upset.
Let me tell you I heard it allthe time why can't our kids go
to school?
We can put a mask on them.
Isn't there a shot for them,right?
We don't want them kids home.
We only want them home for acertain amount of time because
parents weren't a lot of parentsweren't able to really mentally
deal with them being homethemselves and now having to

(42:25):
take care of their children,having to deal with technology,
and you know, that's when wereally started to get these kids
on iPads, chromebooks andthings like that.
And they're Zooming.
These kids Like five-year-oldsdidn't have to do that, but now
they do.
And these kids, like theydidn't five-year-olds didn't
have to do that, but now they do.
And then imagine you're tryingto sit at home and trying to
have your kids sit in front of acomputer and and try to learn

(42:48):
Difficult, right, because wecan't get them to sit down most
of the time, especially at thatyoung age.
So ever since COVID they sawthe stats shows that when these
kids return back to school,that's when school shootings had
went up like the.
The amount, the rate of schoolshootings have been increasing
ever since COVID.
Now, prior to COVID, there weresome school shootings like one

(43:11):
year was 40 to, one year it waslike 30 or whatever.
Uh, 30 people injured.
But I think this year, rightnow, we are at 322 people
injured from school shootingsright now.
This year alone, 322 peoplehave been injured and you've
seen there was 24 fatalities,right.

(43:33):
So what are we doing as parents?
How are we preparing ourchildren to be alert?
How are we preparing ourchildren to be safe and how are
we having a conversation withour children about what alert?
How are we preparing ourchildren to be safe and how are
we having a conversation withour children about what they
should wear?
You know, I encourage mostparents to stop putting light-up
shoes on their kids.
Just be from that article thatthe kids were scared that the

(43:54):
aftershoe was going to find them.
Let them play at home, let themplay outside, but put some
plain Kids.
I mean, I'm always to the factthat all kids need to go back to
uniforms because they can bemore safe.
Like I feel like if, if, if,everybody's back into uniforms,

(44:15):
we don't have to worry about,you know, being um attractive to
the after shooter, right?
Um, and kids don't have to wearif, everybody kind of wearing
the same thing, so we don't haveto worry about bullying, we
don't have to worry about umbeing again attractive to a
shooter.
So what are we?
What are we saying here Um,parents bring prayer, pam, I

(44:41):
know, right Cause I want to getto that.
I feel like you know prayer isthe answer to all things, right,
I also believe that prayer.
After you pray, you got to getup off your knees and you got to
go do something.
So, around here, we put in thework.
As parents, we put in the work.
What are we going to do?
We're going to pray about ourchildren.

(45:01):
We're going to pray about thesafety of the community and
we're going to pray about ourstate and our country.
After I'm praying, I'm gettingup and actively being involved
in my child.
We're going to be checking ourbackpacks.
We're going to haveconversations, right, we're
going to and not again, notconversations was basically how
was your day?
Um, can we, can you tell mewhat happened during the day

(45:25):
when you got to school?
What happened Around lunchtime?
What happened, like, I think,being very detailed and not in a
, don't interrogate your kids,but bring it to a like, a flow
conversation so that they feelopen that they can have these
conversations, flow conversation, so that they feel open that

(45:46):
they can have theseconversations.
Um, also, um, it says, uh,whitney, uh, whitney's on fire
tonight, y'all, how do parentsfeel about the kids phone being
locked in those pouches?
I asked this because if it's anaftershooter, uh, you can't
text or call your parents toinform them their whereabouts in
the school.
Yo, that is so good, whitney,because I remember my kids were
in middle school and it was anactive shooter on their campus.

(46:10):
Well, I don't know if it wassuspected to be an active
shooter on their campus, right,and the kids didn't have.
My kids didn't have theirphones.
They couldn't have their phones.
Their phones were locked up intheir locker and they were so
upset that they couldn't get ahold of me.
So then that's when they startsneaking their phones, like my

(46:31):
kids was sneaking their phonesin their socks or in their in
their pocket, but they had.
That's when they start asking mecrazy enough, y'all.
It's crazy story.
They start asking me to buythem pants with multiple pockets
.
You know the pants.
They got the pocket.
What are they?
They got the pockets on theside.
They got the pockets on theback.
The jackets with the pocketsinside that you can't tell, that

(46:54):
there's nothing in there, likeyou can't even tell it's a
pocket.
My kids in middle schoolstarted asking me to buy clothes
like that and I was like whatis this a war?
But it was because they couldnot get a hold of me to let me
know that there was an activeshooter on campus and that they
had to shelter in place.
So it is a good question Likehow do parents feel about that?

(47:15):
Like I feel like definitely ourkids do need to have some type
of way of communicating withtheir parents that something's
going on.
Listen, think about theairplanes.
Remember 9-11?
We just had a memorial 9-11.
You weren't allowed to haveyour phones.

(47:35):
It had to be an airplane mode.
On a flight, right Before youeven take off, they tell you put
your phone in airplane mode,yada, y mode, yada yada.
But some people didn't puttheir phone in airplane mode as
they were taking off, they wereable to contact and let people
know that there was a danger onthe plane.
So do I think phones are good?
Absolutely I think that you cando.
Anything that is used for goodcan also be used for bad.

(47:56):
Um, talking on the phone,social media, not paying
attention to class is the issue.
But I think if we, as parents,educate our children and I know
it might be tempting it might betemptation for our children but
at the same time, if they knowthat this phone is used for
safety, maybe we can hopefullyconvince them of not to do

(48:19):
anything bad with the phone,because I definitely think that
phones are important.
Um, there's a for being able tobe in contact, because the
school is not calling everyparent at the same time.
Right, a lot of times you don'teven know nothing happened
until you see it on the news.
You don't know anythinghappened until you, uh, your
child contact you or anotherparent contact you.
A lot of times, like theseschools aren't informing you on

(48:39):
the moment, in the spot, becausethey're dealing with the
situation.
If, if they got an activeshooter, they're not calling
every parent to say there's anactive shooter.
If they have a bomb threat,they're not calling every parent
to say we have a bomb threat,no, because every parent will be
at the door.
Right, active shooter, everyparent will be at the door.
But at the same time, we stillneed to know that our children
are safe.
So I definitely think that weshould be able to communicate

(49:03):
with our children in situationslike that.
So I don't know what the answeris to how we can convince our
kids not to be on there anddoing stuff they're not supposed
to, but really only using thisin an emergency.
I don't know.
Kids, you know, they kind ofhave their own mind, do what
they want to do, you know, andof have their own mind do what
they, what they want to do, youknow, and they have these dark

(49:24):
webs and they have all thisstuff that they do even while
they're having a chromebook.
They, you think they're doingschool work.
They're doing something else.
So I I don't know, maybe justreally having an open
conversation with them howimportant it is to um be able to
communicate.
If you get your phone taken awayfor you using in school
improperly, you won't be able tocommunicate with me.

(49:45):
If something bad happens, right, you won't be able to warn me.
You won't be able to have thatconversation with me.
So if you don't want your phonetaken away, if you want to be
able to communicate with me,make sure you use it for the
right purpose, right, um?
So, yeah, um, it's a lot tothink about.
It's a subject that we don'twant to talk about, but I feel

(50:07):
like it's necessary.
So what am I saying heretonight?
Um, talk to your children.
Talk to your children, have aconversation with our children,
not surface conversation.
I mean, let's take some timeout, turn the TV off, go for a
walk, have deep conversations.

(50:28):
I saw this mom and one of theways that she was having a
conversation with herfive-year-old, the conversation
was just amazing.
But she have bathroom time withher.
The mom has a walk-in bathroomwe all don't have that but she
has a walk-in bathroom.
We all don't have that, but shehas a walk-in bathroom y'all.
And she has her daughter comingthere as they're getting ready

(50:48):
for school, like the nightbefore, even the morning of like
, they have open conversationsin the bathroom.
The bathroom is like their chatroom and it's so beautiful just
to see the conversations thatthe mom is having with her
daughter.
And these are just openconversations.
And, ironically enough, one ofthe conversations was about what
happens if something badhappens in school.

(51:09):
What would you do and how wouldyou handle it?
And the daughter asked the momand said mom, how would you
handle it If you found out thatsomebody came to our school to
harm us?
How would you handle it?
And it's so crazy because themom was worried about the
daughter and the daughter wasworried about the mom.
How are you gonna feel so.
Um, some of the takeawaystonight is talk to our children.

(51:31):
Have a good, deep conversation,not surface asking how was your
day and why was your day good,why was your day bad?
Um also talk about what's goingon in the, in society.
Talk about these active shooterdrills, this shelter in place
um.
Talk about, um the massshootings, because you know kids

(51:55):
are getting killed like, Ithink, the.
If we don't talk about it, it'sgoing to be such a crazy shock
to our kids and they're notgoing to know how to handle it.
And we're not going to know howto handle it if we don't
address it.
Sometimes you know you have toaddress the elephant in the room
in order for the room to becleared out right, so the
elephant, you can open the doorand the elephant can leave,

(52:16):
right, we have to address it.
So what conversations are wehaving with our children?
I think sometimes, even likewhen you're having like game
night or something like practice, some different things, um, um,
as far as like, there's so manydifferent ways that you can um
incorporate some of these hardconversations um by just certain

(52:40):
activities that you do withyour kids.
You know, like I said, goingfor a walk down the street
talking about the active shooter.
Even at home, what happens ifsomebody comes into our home?
What are you going to do?
What are we going to do?
How are we going to make sureour family's safe?
And if you see something, saysomething.
That's another conversation weneed to have with our children.

(53:01):
It's not called snitching, it'snot called oh, they're not
going to like me or anythinglike that.
If you see something, saysomething, because your safety
is important.
Also, your classmates' safetyand your teachers are important.
I think also teaching our kidsif you see something, say
something.
If something is making youuncomfortable or some
conversations in school thatmake you uncomfortable, if
somebody's threatening you, oreven if you hear other students

(53:24):
talk about they're going to blowup the school, anything that
makes you feel uncomfortable, Ithink have that conversation
with your teaching our kids tohave that conversation with a
trusting adult so that they canfeel safe, because, honestly,
safety is a top priority whenthey go to school.
Um, so what else should we?
Um talk about?

(53:44):
Um with our kids?
I think that's what it is,because right now you know, and
even y'all even after somethinghappens at school.
Um, because a lot of times, wedon't know what's going on in
these schools until our studentstell us really, or other
parents, or we see it on thenews, even after something has

(54:05):
happened.
Don't just like toss it awaylike something just happened.
Like, really have thatconversation with our students
and our children to see how theyfeel.
Like, how are you feeling aboutthis?
How did that make you feel?
Um, what did you feel in themoment?
How are you feeling now?
Do you think about that often?
Um, do you want to talk tosomebody about it?

(54:27):
Are your friends talking aboutit?
How are your friends feeling?
I think having thoseconversations with our kids are
important too, because, honestly, like I feel like a parent.
My job is not just my ownchildren, but other children as
well, the well-being of otherchildren as well and parents.
Another takeaway is like supportthese teachers, man, have

(54:50):
conversations, openconversations with these
teachers.
Let them know that you knowthat you trust them with your
children and that you want toknow exactly what's going on in
school.
Like, even if it's just anemail, if there was something
that happened that day or mychild had this conversation, or
even if my child said somedisturbing stuff, let me know

(55:13):
about what was said, becausethat makes me alert.
Right, I don't know what'sgoing on in school, so, listen,
I realized, probably last year,that my kids was using profanity
.
Right, I don't know what'sgoing on in school, so, listen,
I realized, probably last year,that my kids was using profanity
.
Right, they wasn't usingprofanity in front of me, but I
heard that the teacher called meand told me my daughter was
using profanity.
I said what Are you serious?

(55:33):
We don't even talk like that inthis house.
But she, oh she was talkinglike it as if she knew exactly
what she was talking about,right?
So, again, having thoseconversations with your teachers
, being open and able tocommunicate with your teachers,
so that you know exactly what'sgoing on with your child and
that your children understandthat we're on the same page,

(55:53):
right?
I think communication is thebest thing for for everything.
That's the answer to everything.
Let's talk about it.
What is exactly going on inyour mind?
We don't know what's in eachother's mind until it's exposed,
right, until we talk about it,or to something bad happens.
We don't want nothing badhappen.
So let's talk.
So, communicating with yourdon't?

(56:14):
You don't you know, even whenit matter of fact, parents.
Even when a teacher calls youand said that your child did A,
b and C, don you?
And said that your child did A,b and C, don't be so quick to
defend your child, like, go upto the school, go off on the
teacher, all that other stuff,craziness.
I heard a story this week wherethe parent went up to the
school, started chasing theteacher, started doing all this
crazy stuff in front of thestudent and because the parent

(56:34):
couldn't handle her ownemotional thoughts, right, her
own emotions, she literally wentup to the teacher and just went
off.
Right.
So, just being open-minded,having a conversation, seek
first to understand the verses,be understood.
Um, so that cause.
At the end of the day, we justwant our kids to be successful

(56:57):
and whatever it takes for themto be successful.
Whitney, who's a teacher,elementary teacher, she said.
I think something that's on hermind is even bigger, she said.
She said candy sharing withother kids like gummies.
That's a big conversation.
I've had being heard a lotabout kids being not whoa.

(57:17):
Okay, whitney, I'm trying toread that because it's like
blowing my mind.
Right now Whitney is sayingthat.
Now.
Whitney's an elementary schoolteacher, right, so she's saying
here that kids are passinggummies around and gummies.
You know, we're talking aboutedibles.
We're not talking about justregular gummies, we're talking
about edibles.
So kids are passing gummiesaround and kids are high.

(57:40):
You know what, whitney, that isso true.
My daughter was in elementaryschool and she told me that her
friend had gave her a brownieand she ate the brownie, and she
told me that she felt high allday.
She never knew what high wasfeeling like, but she felt bad
all day, and she didn't eventell me, though, until like a
week later.
I was a little disturbed whyshe waited so long to tell me.
However, teach our childrensharing is caring, but we can't

(58:03):
take everything at the.
At the end of the day, it'salmost like you can't even share
, though.
Teach our kids not to just takestuff from other kids because
they they are, um, sending drugs.
I remember growing up um ourarticles that we used to read
about the dare program.
The dare was E program.
The DARE was telling us about,you know, drugs, alcohol and all
that stuff, and they weretalking about how some predators

(58:25):
not other classmates orwhatever, some predators were
putting stuff in candy, loweringkids with candy, and it would
have drugs in them and then theywould kidnap, rape and do
whatever they want to these kids.
I heard that growing up it waspredators, right.
They would kidnap, rape and dowhatever they want to these kids
.
I heard that growing up it waspredators, right.
I didn't even know until likerecently that other kids are

(58:52):
giving other kids candy that arelike edibles.
Yeah, so, teaching our kids notto take candy from other kids,
don't do it, don't do it, don't,don't do it.
And it's sad because we'reteaching our kids that we're
supposed to share, be kind.
You know all these things, butat the same time, for their own
safety, we, we can't afford you.
We can't say, oh, you couldtake something from Bobby, but

(59:14):
you can't take something fromRicky or Mike.
We can't do that because thenkids will feel like you're
discriminating.
There's so many things.
So I think, at the end of theday, just teaching them not to
um, not to not to um take, takeanything from anybody.
What I pack in your lunches,what I pack in your lunch, the

(59:36):
snacks that I pack, are yoursnacks and that's it.
Like no, I, I didn't even tellmy kids to take stuff from other
adults.
Like I really don't like you.
You just never know what'sgoing on with stuff.
So, yeah, that's another thing.
About safety.
Um, it's sad that we got totalk about these situations.
We got to talk about foodsafety, fire safety, bomb safety

(01:00:00):
, shooting safety, stab bombsafety, shooting safety,
stabbing safety, man fightingbecause we know that there is a
lot of death at schools.
Regarding fighting, you know,kids are being killed from
jumping and they just hit theirhead the wrong way and they just
die and then now you got amurder case.

(01:00:21):
So it's a lot that we'redealing with and I think that we
need to continue to have theseconversations about how to
prevent and how to keep ourchildren safe and parents
honestly listen.
Here's the thing, though.
I'm on the parents, likechildren, only do what they know
and they don't do what theydon't know.
Right, like you can't do whatyou don't know.

(01:00:42):
You don't do what they don'tknow.
Right, like you can't do whatyou don't know.
You don't know, you don't know.
You're going to do what you see.
You're going to do what youhear.
So whatever you expose to thesenses are, they're going to end
up doing it.
So it's up to us to takeresponsibility of making sure
that our kids get everythingthat they need, of making sure

(01:01:03):
that our kids get everythingthat they need, because if we
don't give our children thetools, if we don't dress our
children, the world will dressthem whatever they want.
To dress them right, the worldwill give them whatever they
want feed their mind and thinkthat they're on an up and up,
right.
But we know that there's waysthat seems right to man.
There's a way that man thinkseverything is okay, that they
don't have to listen to God or ahigher power, that they think
that we got it all together asif we created ourself in this

(01:01:26):
world.
Don't let me get on a tangentabout that, but I will say that
tonight, though, I want to leavethis conversation tonight with
prayer, as many of you know thatI am a Christian and I love God
and I'm going to talk about Godand everything I do.
But I also know that noteverybody who view my show or

(01:01:47):
who are in tune with it.
But I think that everybody alsowants to parent successfully,
right, want to give our childrena safe future, want to be able
to provide for our children,right.
So I'm going to close this out.
If anybody who don't want tohear the prayer, I'm perfectly.
I'm going to close this out.
If you, if anybody who don'twant to hear the prayer, that
I'm perfectly fine if you guyslog off now or um, or you're

(01:02:08):
welcome to stay to hear theprayer, but I'm definitely we're
going to pray for our childrenbecause there's too many.
I just found out from our um, myproducer, that a 12 year old
was just shot yesterday inPhiladelphia.
So, like, listen, gun violenceis on the rise and I believe
prayer changes things.
I believe that prayer gives usinsight of how we need to be

(01:02:29):
innovative and how we can comeup with different strategies on
how to make sure our childrenare safe.
Right, so tonight I want youguys to join me in prayer about
the safeness you know,especially so many things going
on in this political climate,you know gun violence is not

(01:02:49):
taken serious enough.
You know, when we see what justhappened, when the former
president was allegedly shot inthe ear, and we see somebody
just attempted to take his lifeagain, um, I don't know the
backdrop of all this stuff, butI do know that guns are at the

(01:03:11):
forefront and, um, we gotta dosomething about it, period.
So right now, um, father God,our heavenly father, in the name
of Jesus, god, we just thankyou, god for today.
God.
We thank you, god, that we arealive and well.
God, we thank you, god, for theconversation that we're having
regarding around parenting, god,regarding around safety, god,

(01:03:33):
regarding around our children,god, father, god, we thank you,
god, for providing andprotecting our children, god,
from danger, seen and unseen.
God, there are so manysituations, god, that we don't
even know that you protected ourchildren from God, whether it
be somebody trying to kidnapthem, somebody trying to molest
or rape them, god, even caraccidents, gun violence,

(01:03:55):
stabbing, violence, whatever, itis, god, that we see that your
hands is protecting our children, god.
So, father God, we pray rightnow, god, that our schools
become safer than they ever beensafe before, God, that there is
no violence happening in ourschool.
That our children are able togo to school, god, and be able
to learn and pursue careers, god, that they see fit for

(01:04:16):
themselves, god, to besuccessful.
That they get the necessarytools, God, so that they can be
successful in life.
God, successful, that they getthe necessary tools, god, so
that they can be successful inlife.
God, that we know, god, thatschool, father, god, even in
this young age, it's such apivotal point in our life, like
a foundation, god, that we havefor our children, god, to learn,
god, to be able to communicateproperly.
So, god, we ask you, god, toprotect the teachers, god, the

(01:04:36):
administrators, god, theenvironmental service, the
cafeteria workers, god, thesafety and patrol.
God.
Protect them at theirplayground.
God, protect them all over theschool campuses.
God, we trust you, god, with ourchildren.
God, we trust you with theirwhole life, god, that we put
their hands in your hands.

(01:04:57):
God, father God, we just thankyou, god.
We know, god, that you said,god, that we ask God, we shall
have God, father God, we justthank you, god.
We know, god, that you said,god, that we ask God, we shall
have God.
And Father God, we are on anassignment today, god, there's
an urgency, god, for parentingwith a purpose.
God, that we understand, god,that you have given our children
as a gift to us.
God that we'll be able, father,god, to bring them up to be

(01:05:19):
successful.
God, to bring them up good andstanding and right, morally,
characterically.
God, children, god, making surethat their character is in
place.
God, making sure that theirmorals and values are in place.
God.
So, father, god, that ourchildren don't bring any danger
to anyone else in society, andnot even to themselves.
So, father God, we trust youwith our kids.
We love you, we adore you, god,and we lift you up, god.

(01:05:46):
So, father God, cover any parentthat's looking at this video,
god, looking at this podcast,listening to this podcast,
father God, let it be a reminderto them, god, that we need to
take action, we need to be therefor our kids.
God, we need to put.
Whatever situations, god,whatever wounds that we have, we
need to get those healed.

(01:06:07):
We need to seek therapy, weneed to seek counseling, we need
to seek help so that we don'tbleed over our children, so that
we don't have a generationafter generation repeating the
same thing with no change.
So, father God, we thank you,god, for parenting with a
purpose.
God, we thank you, god, thatyou have given us everything
that we need to be successful.
God, that you supply resourcesin our lives.

(01:06:29):
So we thank you, we thank youand we thank you, god and Father
God, if any parent decides thatthey want to reach out, god,
that we are certainly available.
God, in the name of Jesus, god.
So we thank you, thank you,guys, for joining Parenting with
a Purpose.
Again, my name is Donna Janelle.
I am your host.
Remember that.
Check your kids' school bags.

(01:06:50):
Remember, have a conversationwith your kids.
Remember, understand what thisactive school shooting drill is
so that you can have thatconversation with your kids,
because we want to make surethat our kids are mentally and
physically safe, you guys.
So, thank you, tune in againnext week for Panty for the
Purpose.
You guys have a great day.