School should be the one place we parents should not worry about their child. That is one of the reasons we label it our kids’ second home, and their teachers their second parents.
But recent reports of a recent school shooting leaves the whole nation of Canada reeling in shock. Laws on firearms has been rigid and heavily implemented in Canada, unlike its neighboring United States, making this the worst school shooting incident in a quarter of a century.
It left four people dead, and many more injured.
Shortly after the local police received an emergency call about “a person discharging a weapon in the community,” the suspected shooter was taken into custody.
“I ran outside the school,” Noel Desjarlais, a Grade 10 student at the school, told public broadcaster CBC. “There was lots of screaming. There was about six, seven shots before I got outside. I believe there was more shots by the time I did get out.”
“Obviously, this is every parent’s worst nightmare,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. We all grieve with and stand with the community of La Loche and all of Saskatchewan on this terrible tragic day.”
No to violence!
Although school shootings are a predominantly western phenomenon, as parents it is important to educate our children about violence, because it is one of the inherent parts of humanity, and it is better for them to learn about it from us.
The American Psychological Association offer these pointers on how you can raise your children to resist violence:
- Give your children constant love and attention. Every child needs a strong, loving, relationship with a parent or other adult to feel safe and secure and to develop a sense of trust.
- Make sure your children are supervised. Without proper supervision, children do not receive the guidance they need. Studies report that unsupervised children often have behavior problems.
- Show your children appropriate behaviors by the way you act. The behavior, values and attitudes of parents and siblings have a strong influence on children.
- Be consistent about rules and discipline. When you make a rule, stick to it.
- Keep violence outside of your home. Children need a safe and loving home where they do not have to grow up in fear.
- Try to keep your children from seeing too much violence in the media. As a parent, you can control the amount of violence your children see in the media.
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