Nashville, Stress, and Our Kids

If you want to download the free printable of crisis hotlines shown in the video, click here.

My heart is heavy today with news of another mass shooting at a school - this time in Nashville.

But there have been so many.

My daughter was in first grade the year that 20 children and 6 teachers were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary. I remember that day so well --- remember picking her up from her elementary classroom - remember how school drop off was never the same and teaching was never the same. I remember believing policy would change to help make schools safer.

It has not.

This weekend, I read an article in the Washington post from a few weeks back titled The Crisis in American Girlhood. In addition to stark statistics from this year's Youth Behavioral Risk Survey Data like:

the article included stories and explanations from girls themselves. What they had become used to, what they expected.....what they needed. It was an important read - an important and rare chance to hear from them.

I realized that these teenage girls - like my daughter - had come up in the world during a time when school didn't necessarily feel safe AND ON TOP OF THAT - they experienced critically important developmental years in a global pandemic when the world didn't feel safe.

And I'm overcome with the responsibility and desire to create a safe bubble somewhere for these kiddos.

As teachers and caregivers we have a beautiful opportunity to be the calm in this storm - to offer the stability, confidence, and belief in their future that can provide some rest for their bodies and brains as they navigate all of this - the abnormal experiences of their growing up years and the normal drama of figuring out how to grow up.

But we are also a country that is struggling with mental health - adults and students alike. The statistics posted on the video above paint the picture quite clearly. So I know that many of us aren't doing so great ourselves.

With all of this on my mind today, I think about how much childhoods matter -

I think about how these experiences, good and bad, will be the architecture for our children's future biology, behaviors, and health

and it just feels like a really good time to remind all of us to put first things first.

That means several things to me:

1. you can't help our kiddos if you aren't ok - so please take care of yourself

2. we have to stay focused on what matters and not get lost in the checkboxes on someone else's lists or things that only matter once we are safe and well

3. we have to take care of our bodies first, then our relationships ........and then we can learn. It's just the way our brains work.

And all of that really comes down to this today.

Let's take fierce and protective care of everyone in our circle.

Safety and wellbeing first right? Well before clean rooms or perfect essays or the winning goal or better listening.

Their internal lives are complex and often painful. The world is confusing and scary. And they need us for safe harbor and light. Please don't just carry on as if everything is normal. Because "normal" doesn't mean ok. We have to do something different.

Action is the antidote for hopelessness.

Take care.