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Parenting With A Purpose
Donna Janel Williams, a Chester native is on a mission to bring back the responsibility, nobility, and beauty back to parenting. Parenting With A Purpose show aims to reach, teach and propel single mom, single dads, married, divorced, adopted, and foster parents all over the world with engaging conversations to help parents raise up successful leaders. Donna Janel believes parents are the bows and children are the arrows and they will land in the direction we aim them.
Parenting With A Purpose
"Parenting Under Pressure: Preparing for School Emergencies"
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!
Thank you. Hey everybody, welcome back to Panther With Purpose. I am your host and one and only Donna 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 parents is. The struggle is real.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm an old school parent. I've been this thing for 25 years and let me tell you I done seen some crazy stuff in parenting, some stuff that make me question my own parenting right. Kids these days, technology these days, just everything, the school system, the community, the state, like everything. It just seems like it's going haywire right and make you think like am I doing the best thing for my child? Am I being the right parent? Matter of fact, get somebody else 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 the 18, 16 and the other 16 year old.
Speaker 1:They make me question my parents in every day. Like am I speaking English? Do you understand English? Like what is really going on? Because sometimes I ask them questions and all I hear is I 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.
Speaker 1:Okay, so sometimes I question my own parents and, like today, I just was like with my 16 year old 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 clear answer from him. Now, when he was younger he was able to give me clear answers, but right now, the 16 year old, I don't know if he don't want his mom in his business, but every time I ask him a question, I don't know, like if I even say what is that color? I don't know, as if he don't have glasses and he can't see. I'm telling you it made me question my parenting. Sometimes I just want to roll out and say, listen, somebody else come in here and do it. But I know most of your parents feel that way too, because it is a struggle parenting, especially in this day and age. You know, parenting where I was parenting 25 years ago.
Speaker 1:Listen, the stuff that I dealt with my daughter not compared to the stuff that I do with the teenagers now, even just the fact of like this digital world with technology, like you know, I'm glad that they had the internet, but and I'm glad that they have like they can interact in social media and things like that, but sometimes they just take it way too far where it seems like they just get so much, so many different types of influences in their life, and it kind of brings a challenge into parenting, right? So what we want to talk about tonight though y'all tonight is a hot topic and I kind of tried to get people on the show tonight y'all Tonight is a hot topic and I kind of tried to get people on the show tonight, y'all but I think this is a topic that a lot of people don't want to talk about. A lot of people are dealing with but they don't want to talk about, and we're going to be talking about school shootings, active drills, active shooter drills. You know, growing up, you know I'm dating myself but the only thing that we had to worry about in school was fire drills, and that was a little bit scary y'all. The fire drill was a little bit scary for me. Um, everybody lined up. I couldn't go outside with my coat on. I used to be cold in the wintertime and we had to go outside in the freezing cold, in the snow. That was like. That was the thing that I was worried about was being cold.
Speaker 1:Right, these kids these days it is so different they got the, the active shooter drill, they got the fire drill, they got the um, the bombing. It's like, you know, shelter in place type drills, like I've never even heard of that as a child. Shelter in place, literally the drills we had, like I said, was fire drills. You just run out the building, that's what. The nearest exit, that's all we had to know, was the nearest exit, right, um, even when we think about at home, I remember growing up even everything was about a fire drill. Nothing was about anybody actively coming in your house or anything like that, coming to your community, blowing up the community. It was none of those things we had to think about. The only thing I recall thinking about when I was younger you know, growing up in a project was you know we had people shooting, right, we have mass shootings, that we have drive-bys and things like that. So you know, when you start hearing a little argument, you just hit the ground. So did you make sure that bullet when it comes through your door it's not going to hit you or your children? That's the only thing that I remember as a child growing up about this.
Speaker 1:So, right now, there have been 46 school shootings. We are in 2024 right now. This is September, y'all Can you count it? September? We are in the ninth month. There have been 46 school shootings, and it is CNN. Education study shows that it is going to be more than that by the end of the year, at the rate that we're going Now. When we talk about school shootings, we're talking about shootings that's on school grounds, right, shootings that are happening either in the parking lot of the school, the playground or in the school right Lately, if you guys notice, what we're seeing, though, is not just a school shooting.
Speaker 1:We're seeing a mass shooting, because multiple people are being injured and multiple people are dying behind the hands of a gun, and the crazy thing about it is when you look at the stats. Right, these are children shooting children. These are children shooting teachers. These are my first question. You know we all about parenting. How the heck did these children get these guns right? How did these guns get into the hands of our children and then was able to leave their house with the gun and go to school and shoot up the place. It's very scary, right, it's a very scary thought.
Speaker 1:So what really made me think about this topic is you know, there was just a recent school shoot in Georgia, right, ala Pouchy, I think it's called I might be chopping the name up because you know, people pronounce things differently but based on the spell, alapouchee, school shooting and several people, several kids, died. You know, school officials died and it really kind of got to my stomach. It really kind of made me sick in the stomach, like what the heck is going on, and I think the most disturbing thing that I found when I was researching this is that the father so here's this thing the situation in Atlanta. Let's talk about that first. There's a lot of situations, right, but the situation in Atlanta, because that was just the most recent one the young man 14 years old who was the person who shot the people, who basically killed people and injured people Four people died, 19 injured, serious injured, two students to school teachers.
Speaker 1:I think what's the most disturbing thing is that the dad knew that his son was a danger to society. This young man was already at another school and he had some instances was very questionable and that he was on the school watch list, right, the school was watching for him, watching every move that he make, and things like that, because there have been some questionable instances, right. And so what the dad did was the dad transfer his son to a new school, did not inform the school of any of this information. Now, one, the dad, why, why would you do that? Why would you do that? Two, the other question is what kind of information does a school share with each other so that we know that the proper information is being shared, so that the school knows what's going on with this situation? That's the other thing. So I feel like the ball was dropped in that situation.
Speaker 1:However, the dad brought the weapon, the dad brought the gun. So the father knew that his child was a danger to society. He purchased a weapon for his child. Therefore, his child was able to take that weapon and go to school and this was a new school, this that he has missed school several times, um, already in the school year. I think. They said he had already missed nine days of school in the school year, um, and then, when he finally did go to school, you know, he asked his teacher could he go and go speak to someone? And they said yeah.
Speaker 1:So then the student was hiding. They were looking for him around the building because he didn't go where he said he was going to go, and they were looking for him. Turns out he was hiding in the bathroom, um, but the thing is that he came into school with an assault rifle. Do you know how big an assault rifle is? It's not something that you hide in your pocket or anything like that. He had a bag. The rifle was already put together. He did not have to take it out and put it together, it was already put it together. He came into school with a loaded assault rifle. That don't even make sense in my mind. I'm just saying so anyway. So the father, though, is now being charged with murder as well, because he allowed his child to have to have the gun, and he knew his child was a danger to society.
Speaker 1:So my question to parents, um, is if you know that your child is a danger to themselves or to society, 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 when we're dealing with situations like this? Particularly, that's a mental illness. That is a mental illness, because that is not a stable mind, right. So what part do we play in this right? So yeah, 46 school shootings.
Speaker 1:You know several kids died, several teachers died and it's crazy because at one point teachers were having to deal with behavioral issues. Like you know, you're talking too much in class, you don't know how to sit. Still, you know a lot of yitty-yat stuff Like what we look at now in this small comparison, what they have to deal with now. So they were dealing with behavioral issues they're dealing with. Some of these kids were already being abused coming to school. Some of these kids were already hungry. So the teacher is dealing with all this. But now the teacher got to think about their own safety. Am I going to make it home to my family? Will the children make it back home to their parents? That is scary.
Speaker 1:So I read an article the other day and that really kind of piqued my interest. I would say One of the young ladies from my church. She had shared an article and it was just basically a statement from a five-year-old kid and they were doing active shooter drills at school and if any of you know what an active shooter drill is, it's really almost as if an intruder has entered and they're actively shooting. So there's plans in place so that our children can be safe. So this thing started starts early as preschool.
Speaker 1:So the five-year-old came home after being in school for a week and you know they had to do this very early after shooter drill and he said to his father he was like dad, I don't want to wear light-up sneakers to school anymore. Dad's like you love light-up sneakers. Why would you not? You know they're brand new sneakers. You went to the store, you picked them out. You're excited. You know they're just amazing sneakers. I thought that that's what you wanted. No, dad, I love my sneakers, but they're not safe for me. So the dad responded what do you mean? Your sneakers aren't safe for you? He said well, if we have a shooter, an actor shooter, and my sneakers light up, they're going to find me and kill me and kill my classmates and kill my teachers. Yo, that thing had me to the floor. I really was like wait, what A five-year-old now have to check their wardrobe, change their wardrobe and the things that they like, just to become safe.
Speaker 1:If that's not scary, I don't know what it is. As a parent, you know we want our kids to look the best. You know they like light up sneakers. Let's do it. You know they even be having these light up clothes. If you're like me, like I like flashy clothes, I like sparkles, I like diamonds, I like bling. So just imagine, though, like now, that I'm thinking about so. If I'm going to a store and or if I'm in a bank and we have an active shooter like yo, my clothes are going to be sparking, like I'm going to be so noticeable, right, and they're going to be able to single me out based on what my attire is. But why does a four-year-old or five-year-old have to think about their school attire? That is not what they're supposed to be thinking about. They're supposed to think about I'm going to school, gonna hang out with my friends, I'm gonna go learn some new stuff, um, but they're about what they're dressed like. That's scary. Why? Why? Why? That's my question. Like, why, all of a sudden?
Speaker 1:And study shows that, according to CNN education study in safe schools. It shows this is a 2024 study. This just came out in February of this year. It shows that again, 46,. What did it show? Listen, I'm just so like crazy because I'm so upset the fact that our kids have to deal with this, but um, it showed, it was a study that showed um. Oh, there we go. I'm sorry y'all came back to me um, out of the 46 school shootings um this year, it showed that um 13 were in uh university colleges or universities 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 back to my notes uh, through the 46 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 school shootings of this year so far. Um, and according to um, another study that I read.
Speaker 1:Actually, if you guys go to SandyHookPromiseorg, you'll find a lot about school shootings and what to do and how to prevent them or how to prepare your children. As you know, sandy Hook was I think I feel like that's the first one I actually was it Columbine or Family Hook? Sandy Hook, I think, because Columbine was the high school and Sandy Hook was the elementary school where there was a mass shooting in there. So Sandy Hook, I think, because Columbine was the high school and Sandy Hook was the elementary school where there was a mass shooting in there. So Sandy Hook now has an organization where they talk about the school shootings. They talk about how to prepare your kids and they list all the statistics on there Out of that. Prior to that they didn't do that, but once they had the situation happen where somebody came in and shot up the school, they took a lead into making people aware of what's going on, right?
Speaker 1:So we have questions on Facebook, right? Right now, one of the questions from my co-host, pam. She said why should a child have to consider that? Why should a child have to consider their attire, right? Just as I said, pam, it's crazy. Like light up shoes, bling and outfits. They're attractive, right. We wear them because we like them. They're attractive, they're flashy, right. So just imagine that you're in school and the active shooter and they see it like, they see the flashiness and they go right to it. You become a target, our children become a target. So that's a little scary. But the other question is so are we checking our children's belongings?
Speaker 1:I don't think that most parents think about checking their children's backpack. I think that a lot of parents will say bring me your homework, bring me your schoolwork, give me your stuff out of your backpack, but not necessarily go and kind of search their backpack. Because why would you search a child's backpack? What would you think that would be in there? Like, would you think that they had a gun in there? No, I wouldn't think that my kid had a gun in there. Um, I wouldn't. I wouldn't even think to. You know, where I searched my kids backpack when they was younger is to make sure they gave me all the school work and all the information, because you know they send papers home and kids just give you half the stuff. Or, if they got in trouble, they had a letter. So that's why I was tracking that backpack. It wasn't. Oh, did they have a weapon in there? So it's, it's, it's crazy, because they're taking guns to school, they're taking knives to school, um, they're taking a lot of things to school. Um, and we'll get into that other stuff. Like, even, like, I found out that elementary kids are vaping.
Speaker 1:You know there's a lot of stuff going on when we talk about children and safeness in school. Um, but this actor shooter drill, like, how do you, as parents, feel? Like, do you guys have the conversation with your, your children about, uh, school safety? Like after, uh, actor shooter drills, the fire drills, uh, the shelter in place drills, just in case there was some bombing, like or what? Do you have these conversations with your school? Because I know, with your students, because I know that the schools are having these conversations as early as preschool.
Speaker 1:So as parents or you or we having these conversations with our students, I honestly did not have a conversation with my students, my children, initially, because, like I don't know, probably like most parents, like we're kind of oblivious to the fact, like it's like I don't know, naive maybe, like, oh, that's not going to happen at our school or we're safe around here, we live in a safe neighborhood. You know, probably, that I probably was a little naive back in the day until, um, one one of my daughters, the 16 year old that test, my inner gangster y'all I remember she was in, I think, fourth grade and, um, the school had called me because she was having a really hard time with these active shooter drills. Like she was already having a hard time with, like the fire drills, just the loud noise and things like that. But she was having a really hard time with, like the fire drills, just the loud noise and things like that. But she was having a really hard time because what happened was like these kids were bused away from the school. It was crazy, like the drill that they had, that they would put these kids leave out a secret door, I think in the back of the building, and then they would load these children into a bus and take them away from the school, right, um, because of a threat of a bomb or for school, right, and she had a hard time, um, dealing with it. So the school called me and that was the first time that I found out that my kids actually have to go through bomb drills. Actor shooter um, a shelter in place. You're like I never heard of it before and maybe I just never paid attention to it. Um, but I don't recall saying any paperwork coming home for him. So my daughter was having a hard time and I was like, wow, so that's when I began to start having a conversation with my children about it, because it was a real thing. It was happening across the world Um, not as much as happening now, but it was really happening across the world. Not as much is happening now, but it was really happening across the world.
Speaker 1:And I used to be like why do schools have to have metal detectors for kids to go to school? Right, like, why would they have metal detectors in elementary school, middle school, you know, high school? Because kids get a little wayward in high school and they kind of just do things that they want to do. So I can see why you would have metal detectors in high school and they kind of just do things that they want to do. So I can see why you will have metal detectors in high school, elementary and middle school students. Like why would they need to have metal detectors? Now I know why, right, y'all. So we have a comment on facebook, y'all. I'm going to be pausing for the comments because I really want this to be an interactive thing. It says um, so I have a lady on here on Facebook I'm just going to say her full name, but Whitney.
Speaker 1:She says as an elementary school teacher, the first thing I look for in my classroom is a hiding spot for my babies to go. I have done this every year Whoa flag on the play. Where's my flag? As an elementary school student, the first thing that she looks in her classroom is a hiding spot for her and her children. Not, you know, just hello, good morning, how you doing. You know we're coming in. How was your weekend? Before we even get into all that, we got to see where we're going to hide at.
Speaker 1:That is scary. I'm sorry, whitney, that you have 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 be happening across the world, but especially, you know, because our children are, um, at the age of elementary school, where they're very moldable, right, they're sponges and they they receive, and this is how they're going to process the world, based on what they're learning in elementary school of how to deal with people, how to deal with society and how, uh, things are affecting them, right, cause they take that, you know, with them the rest of their life. Like I remember stuff when I was five years old, like I'm 44. I remember stuff when I was five and the fact that they got to think about ordering on a high. That is very scary Um, wow, um, that's that's, that's sad, and that is just proving my point that that even in elementary schools, I, you, you see that it was from K to 12 and most of it. It was in the um elementary school where kids were actually the the mass shootings had taken place. Um, actually, the mass shootings had taken place and a lot of innocent children were taken out. So I was reading.
Speaker 1:It says each day, 12 children die from gun violence in America and another 32 are shot and injured. Guns are the leading cause of death among American children, teens. One out of 10 gun deaths are age 19 or younger. In fact, firearms death occur at a rate more than five times higher than drowning. Now you know, drowning was like the number one thing that under 19 was dealing with. Right, it was drowning. Kids were drowning like crazy because you think somebody's watching them, they think you're watching them and then things happen. But they said five times higher than drowning. Do you know what the rate is in drowning? This thing says that the firearm death was five times higher. Since 1999, 338,000 students in the US have experienced gun violence at school. 338,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since 1999. I knew I wasn't sure if Columbine 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 just been on the rise Whitney's comment again.
Speaker 1:She says I make them high and tell them if I can see them from different points. Don't go near the door, don't be in a view of the window. Man, that's scary. Like a game of hide and seek has to really be a game of safety like and hide from danger. That's so scary, man, like, just, you know, the whole peekaboo thing like that brings that to another level. Peekaboo hide and seek, like you know. Things that we learned when we was little. We thought we was having fun and 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 you know hide from different angles to see if you can see them, um, and, but the thing is that don't be in view of the window. Uh, don't be near a door, like they're the the things that specific directions for them so that they know that they're hiding. It has to be so that nobody can find them at all, not even a teacher, right? That's a little scary. Um, wow, um, I'm like.
Speaker 1:I'm really kind of like in frustration because our children have to deal with so much. Our children have to deal with so much as it relates to really trying to pursue their education. Trying to pursue their education. You know, academia is so important, and they can't even do that peacefully because of the minds of individuals who are disturbed.
Speaker 1:The question I do have for you guys on Facebook, though is or anywhere is if you know your child is a danger to society, do you feel that you're responsible to alert the authorities, or how would you handle that situation? How would you talk about it? Yeah, that that, how would you do it? Because, as a parent, you know you want your child to be safe. You want those around you to be safe. Wow, you know you want your child to be safe. Uh, you want those around you to be safe.
Speaker 1:Um, wow, I have another thing. I'm gonna be, uh, looking at my notes, because there's a lot of facts that that I've seen and that's just crazy. It says 4.6 million american children live in a home where at least one gun is kept loaded and unlocked. These improperly stored weapons have contributed to school shootings, suicides and the death of family members, including infant and toddlers. 4.6 million, 4.6. That's not a small number. 4.6 million American children live in a house where guns are locked and unloaded. Locked and loaded I'm sorry, loaded and unlocked, ready to be used, and that's a lot of these been used in these school shootings.
Speaker 1:As a parent, when you get a random call from your child, how are you reacting or keeping your child calm? Example like my daughter. She called because she was crying, because she felt like it was a drill, but it was like so much real life that she was scared. And, mind you, this daughter I'm talking about I adopted because my sister and her husband passed away. So she's already had, by the age of six, she's already lost both parents. And now she's in fourth grade and we have any bomb threats and these actor shooter things and she's afraid that she's going to live, lose her life as well. Now, the crazy thing about that is that prior to that situation, I remember her wanting not even wanting to live, because both of her parents were already deceased and she felt like she didn't have anything and she didn't want to live. So it was really me coaching her back to want to understand why God had a purpose for her here on this earth. So now I'm getting her back to want to be alive. Right, I wanted her to enjoy life at eight years old. And then we have this situation where she's like I'm afraid I'm going to die. That's crazy, right, that's scary.
Speaker 1:Another question Do you feel that your children need help or do you think you should get yourself help as well? So you know, sometimes, especially in a situation when we think about the young man that was just shot and killed, those in Atlanta I think the parents need to help too, because any parent like you can't be in your right mind to know that your child is a danger to society and provide your child a weapon to go be a danger to society. You're not in your right mind. So I think both parties need help, definitely. I remember now this is me being real, transparent and talking about what happened to me. I remember probably I guess we're going on about two years.
Speaker 1:About two years ago my son was ninth grade. He was 14 years old and he was being bullied. I didn't know he was being my son's very quiet y'all. He was very quiet, he doesn't bother anybody, he kind of goes to school, do his work and he would which I'll quote, um, maybe quote like a nerd, like he was always in the books, he didn't't play any sports, he literally just was all about education and technology and things like that. So he had went to.
Speaker 1:The school that he went to was predominantly a white school and he was being bullied, but the way he was being bullied, he never shared that with me. Whenever I asked him how was school going? What you know? What did you do? He's very quiet, very quiet. So he was like nothing, it was all right. School was normal. School was normal. So I did what I didn't know. The normal part was him being bullied every day. Um, they would talk about his race, um, they would call him, you know, oreo, meaning that you'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 things like that. But I didn't know Right, and let me tell you how this thing came to a hit, even though I'm asking him every day how school was. His quote to me was school was normal, the same old, same old. So I didn't think normal meant you getting bullied.
Speaker 1:However, it came to a point where he started to have like homicidal thoughts. Right, he started to really want to hurt the people. That was hurting him, or really want yeah, I really wanted to hurry and injure somebody and he had wrote different pages, little short stories about how he was going to do it. He was very detailed y'all and he said to me this is important about having a relationship with your child, though, even though he was telling me that it was normal, 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, what you 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 papers that he had wrote and it basically was a detail of how he was going to hurt people.
Speaker 1:And I said to him I was like, do you feel right now, in this moment, that you're a danger to yourself or society? 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 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 I'm a pediatric nurse, so I've seen a lot. You know, I've been a pediatric nurse for 19 years now and I've seen a lot of things, especially working in the adolescent area and also being a court appointed special advocate for kids in foster care. So I've seen a lot of adolescents and youth uh situation. So when he said to me that he didn't like his own thoughts, I said okay.
Speaker 1:As a mom I felt like pause. I contacted his doctor, took him into the doctor, had an evaluation. They said he was safe to go home with me, that he just needed some therapy. 24 hours later my son is telling me Mom, no, I still need this, is not? It was like something like fire or urge in him to really hurt somebody, not just hurt something. I'm talking about hurt somebody, not just hurt something. I'm talking about hurt somebody.
Speaker 1:So as a mom, like you know, for me as a mom I felt like I've dealt with children that had mental disturbances due for whatever situation they were in, and I couldn't. At first my first thought was like I just can't have a child like going to a mental institution given, especially being that my son was so quiet and very, very high social anxiety that I thought it was going to be more damaging to him. But I also knew, as a mom, that I couldn't provide the safety at home that he needed because I didn't know how deep this thing was. So he goes and he has evaluation and he gets put in a mental institution. Was it hard for me? Absolutely yes.
Speaker 1:But I felt as a mom that I could not allow my son to be in society at the moment until he gets healed, because I can't see of him taking himself out or anybody else. Like it wasn't just about my son, it was about the students around him, it was about the school, it was about the community. Like I didn't want this situation 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 knew safety was a priority. It hurt me. I cried every day while my son was institutionalized and my son went on a hunger strike like because again, he had social anxiety.
Speaker 1:So there was like this whole major thing that we had to do in order to make sure that society was safe, make sure that he was safe, and as a mom, you don't want to put your kid away but at the same time you don't want nobody to die from the hands of your child. So there comes a point we as parents have to be responsible enough and say listen, not on my watch, this is my baby, I love you, but right now you need help. And so when I saw the situation with the father, with the son with the mental illness and and he gave warning signs and he already had some questionable activities I was really hurt the fact that the father didn't take it upon himself to get his son out of society and really get the help that he needed. Um, because I know I had to do that for myself, I had to do that for my son, I had to do it for the. I had to do that for my son, I had to do it for the community. And does he still struggle with it? Absolutely, he doesn't have haimosato thoughts or suicidal thoughts anymore, but he still struggled with some other things, right?
Speaker 1:So right now, as two years later, we're just coming, you know, kind of still processing through it, but my son's homeschooled. He homeschooled because it was too hard for him to be able to be functionable in society and, um, he wanted to be homeschooled. Here's the thing he knew, like that, there was something going on in his mind that was not healthy. He knew that it was bad thinking. 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 be homeschooled because school is making me worse. He knew his triggers. He knew the signs and symptoms of what was taking him to another level, and that was literally. And that's when we found out that he was being bullied in the situations that he was enduring. So he homeschooled straight A student. Now, you know, he's been homeschooled for a year. He's go to therapy. He doesn't have any of these thoughts.
Speaker 1:But at the same time, as a parent, you're like why take somebody out of society when they have a social issue? Because we need to expose them to it, but not on the cost of someone else. I'm sorry, I'm not that parent that's going to allow my child to go to school, knowing that he has 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 to deal with any pain under the hands of my own child. So, yes, he's out of school, he's doing much better, but homeschool is working for him. He's very quiet.
Speaker 1:But I said all that to say that, just to tell you. Listen, even though I'm doing this parenting with a purpose thing, listen, I have my own issues as parenting and this is why I try to get parents engaged. This is why I think it's such an urgency right now for parents to be active in their children's life, to really have these conversations with these children, open conversations. What is their mental status? Because you could be the best parent in the world. You could give your children everything that they need. I mean, I'm talking about not just food, clothes and shelter. You're giving them emotional support, but they still are their own person and they have some thoughts that we need to address so that we don't be having a candlelight because this child decided to take out the whole school no, not on my watch.
Speaker 1:I don't care what y'all say, and I think parents you know, I know it's hard, but at the end of the day, what are we going to do with our children? How are we going to provide safety? Because we have a responsibility, not just for our children, for other people's children as well. So we have to do the best for our children, the best for society. You know we can't be naive and act like nothing's going on.
Speaker 1:So the other question is like what could we ask our children besides, how was your day? And their response like that's a lesson learned from me. How was your day? Oh, it was normal, and you take it. Oh, it was normal and you take it. Oh it was normal. Normal, what is normal? I'm gonna need you to elaborate on that. 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 normal for you. Are you just accepting any old thing? Like now we can say that actor shooter drills are normal. Hide and seek my teacher trying to find somewhere to somewhere for us to hide in the beginning of class that's normal.
Speaker 1:I want to know about that, though. I want to have those conversations. Are we having these conversations with our kids, right? That's one of the things. Sometimes we, as parents, like we're so busy, right, right, busy, and when I say busy, I'm talking about busy on the phone, busy on social media, busy entertaining people, but when it comes to our kids, we really drop the bomb sometimes that we're not giving, we're not intensive, like we're not being present in the presence, right.
Speaker 1:And I think that when we hear from our children, we'll then realize that, okay, kids just want their time, they want to be heard, they want to know that they're safe. You know our job as parents is to provide a safe environment. So what does safety look like? What does safety look like at home? What does safety look like at school? And how do we have a conversation with our kids so that they understand that, yes, it's bad people in the world, yes, that we have to now have these type of drills, but it's all for your safety. So, teaching your children how to be alert, diligent and sober-minded, keeping a sound mind, how you keep a five-year-old to be sober-minded, a sound mind as a five-year-old is very difficult, right.
Speaker 1:But to the point where they have to be so attentive to their environment that they understand when something's off, because, believe it or not, it's not just that there are teenagers or adults are coming in these schools, killing, shooting up the school, like there's elementary kids shooting the five year old that took a gun and shot the teacher. Do you remember? I think it's about two years ago. Two to three years ago, the five-year-old shot the teacher and the teacher. The crazy thing, this is what I'm talking about. The teacher had reported that the child was a behavioral problem, like high alert, kept going to the principal telling the principal that this is what the child is saying. This is what's going on with the child. The child is threatening me like a five-year-old, right, and they didn't take it serious. That the administration of the school did not take it serious, even though the teacher kept coming back on various occasions documented occasion that this child is disturbed and that is causing a major issue in the class and the child is threatening me, right. The school didn't take it serious. That child brought a gun to school and shot the teacher.
Speaker 1:You guys five years old so when I 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 for school, we're looking to make sure that they don't have anything that's a danger to anybody, whether it's a knife, a gun, whatever they have that could be a danger to anybody. And not just looking at a book bag, but having that conversation, that to check their mental status. I think that we really need to check on our children mentally, right Before you know, it was all about the physical food, shelter and clothing. But now we really have these kids, have dealt with a lot.
Speaker 1: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 was documented on the scenes and a lot of most states besides Florida and some of the other southern states did not shut their schools down, but most states up here, up north and around the world really shut their schools down, right. So these kids were no longer able to socialize with their friends, no longer to be observed by their teachers, to see what was going on. They were really isolated. You listen, as parents, we know what it was like to have, and during COVID and you had your kids home all day, every day, can't go out, can't do nothing, right? Most parents was losing their mind because they're not used to dealing with their kids. They're not used to interacting with their kids. They're used to the school, taking care of their kids. So when the parents had to do it, they were so upset. Let me tell you I heard it all the 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 a certain amount of time because parents weren't a lot of parents weren't able to really mentally deal with them being home themselves and now having to take care of their children, having to deal with technology, and you know, that's when we really started to get these kids on iPads, chromebooks and things like that. And they're Zooming. These kids Like five-year-olds didn't have to do that, but now they do. And these kids, like they didn't five-year-olds didn't have to do that, but now they do. And then imagine you're trying to sit at home and trying to have your kids sit in front of a computer and and try to learn Difficult, right, because we can't get them to sit down most of the time, especially at that young age. So ever since COVID they saw the 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 school shootings have been increasing ever since COVID. Now, prior to COVID, there were some school shootings like one year was 40 to, one year it was like 30 or whatever. Uh, 30 people injured. But I think this year, right now, we are at 322 people injured from school shootings right now. This year alone, 322 people have been injured and you've seen there was 24 fatalities, right.
Speaker 1:So what are we doing as parents? How are we preparing our children to be alert? How are we preparing our children to be safe and how are we having a conversation with our children about what alert? How are we preparing our children to be safe and how are we having a conversation with our children about what they should wear? You know, I encourage most parents to stop putting light-up shoes on their kids. Just be from that article that the kids were scared that the aftershoe was going to find them. Let them play at home, let them play outside, but put some plain Kids. I mean, I'm always to the fact that all kids need to go back to uniforms because they can be more safe. Like I feel like if, if, if, everybody's back into uniforms, we don't have to worry about, you know, being um attractive to the after shooter, right? Um, and kids don't have to wear if, everybody kind of wearing the same thing, so we don't have to worry about bullying, we don't have to worry about um being again attractive to a shooter. So what are we? What are we saying here Um, parents bring prayer, pam, I know, right Cause I want to get to that.
Speaker 1:I feel like you know prayer is the answer to all things, right, I also believe that prayer. After you pray, you got to get up off your knees and you got to go do something. So, around here, we put in the work. As parents, we put in the work. What are we going to do? We're going to pray about our children. We're going to pray about the safety of the community and we're going to pray about our state and our country.
Speaker 1:After I'm praying, I'm getting up and actively being involved in my child. We're going to be checking our backpacks. We're going to have conversations, right, we're going to and not again, not conversations was basically how was your day? Um, can we, can you tell me what happened during the day 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 feel open that they can have these conversations, flow conversation, so that they feel open that they can have these conversations.
Speaker 1:Um, also, um, it says, uh, whitney, uh, whitney's on fire tonight, y'all, how do parents feel about the kids phone being locked in those pouches? I asked this because if it's an aftershooter, uh, you can't text or call your parents to inform them their whereabouts in the school. Yo, that is so good, whitney, because I remember my kids were in middle school and it was an active shooter on their campus. Well, I don't know if it was suspected to be an active shooter on their campus, right, and the kids didn't have. My kids didn't have their phones. They couldn't have their phones. Their phones were locked up in their locker and they were so upset that they couldn't get a hold of me. So then that's when they start sneaking their phones, like my kids was sneaking their phones in their socks or in their in their pocket, but they had.
Speaker 1:That's when they start asking me crazy enough, y'all. It's crazy story. They start asking me to buy them pants with multiple pockets. You know the pants. They got the pocket. What are they? They got the pockets on the side. They got the pockets on the back. The jackets with the pockets inside that you can't tell, that there's nothing in there, like you can't even tell it's a pocket. My kids in middle school started asking me to buy clothes like that and I was like what is this a war? But it was because they could not get a hold of me to let me know that there was an active shooter on campus and that they had to shelter in place.
Speaker 1:So it is a good question Like how do parents feel about that? Like I feel like definitely our kids do need to have some type of way of communicating with their parents that something's going on. Listen, think about the airplanes. Remember 9-11? We just had a memorial 9-11. You weren't allowed to have your phones. It had to be an airplane mode. On a flight, right Before you even take off, they tell you put your phone in airplane mode, yada, y mode, yada yada. But some people didn't put their phone in airplane mode as they were taking off, they were able to contact and let people know that there was a danger on the plane.
Speaker 1:So do I think phones are good? Absolutely I think that you can do. Anything that is used for good can also be used for bad. 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 be temptation for our children but at the same time, if they know that this phone is used for safety, maybe we can hopefully convince them of not to do anything bad with the phone, because I definitely think that phones are important.
Speaker 1:Um, there's a for being able to be in contact, because the school is not calling every parent at the same time. Right, a lot of times you don't even know nothing happened until you see it on the news. You don't know anything happened until you, uh, your child contact you or another parent contact you. A lot of times, like these schools aren't informing you on the moment, in the spot, because they're dealing with the situation. If, if they got an active shooter, they're not calling every parent to say there's an active 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, every parent will be at the door. But at the same time, we still need to know that our children are safe. So I definitely think that we should be able to communicate with our children in situations like that.
Speaker 1:So I don't know what the answer is to how we can convince our kids not to be on there and doing stuff they're not supposed to, but really only using this in an emergency. I don't know. Kids, you know, they kind of have their own mind, do what they want to do, you know, and of have their own mind do what they, what they want to do, you know, and they have these dark webs and they have all this stuff that they do even while they're having a chromebook. They, you think they're doing school work. They're doing something else. So I I don't know, maybe just really having an open conversation with them how important it is to um be able to communicate.
Speaker 1:If you get your phone taken away for you using in school improperly, you won't be able to communicate with me. If something bad happens, right, you won't be able to warn me. You won't be able to have that conversation with me. So if you don't want your phone taken 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 to think about. It's a subject that we don't want to talk about, but I feel like it's necessary. So what am I saying here tonight? Um, talk to your children. Talk to your children, have a conversation with our children, not surface conversation. I mean, let's take some time out, turn the TV off, go for a walk, have deep conversations.
Speaker 1:I saw this mom and one of the ways that she was having a conversation with her five-year-old, the conversation was just amazing. But she have bathroom time with her. The mom has a walk-in bathroom we all don't have that but she has a walk-in bathroom. We all don't have that, but she has a walk-in bathroom y'all. And she has her daughter coming there as they're getting ready for school, like the night before, even the morning of like, they have open conversations in the bathroom. The bathroom is like their chat room and it's so beautiful just to see the conversations that the mom is having with her daughter. And these are just open conversations. And, ironically enough, one of the conversations was about what happens if something bad happens in school. What would you do and how would you handle it? And the daughter asked the mom and said mom, how would you handle it If you found out that somebody came to our school to harm us? How would you handle it? And it's so crazy because the mom was worried about the daughter and the daughter was worried about the mom. How are you gonna feel so.
Speaker 1:Um, some of the takeaways tonight is talk to our children. 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 going on in the, in society. Talk about these active shooter drills, this shelter in place um. Talk about, um the mass shootings, because you know kids are getting killed like, I think, the. If we don't talk about it, it's going to be such a crazy shock to our kids and they're not going to know how to handle it. And we're not going to know how to handle it if we don't address it. Sometimes you know you have to address the elephant in the room in order for the room to be cleared out right, so the elephant, you can open the door and the elephant can leave, right, we have to address it. So what conversations are we having with our children?
Speaker 1:I think sometimes, even like when you're having like game night or something like practice, some different things, um, um, as far as like, there's so many different ways that you can um incorporate some of these hard conversations um by just certain activities that you do with your kids. You know, like I said, going for a walk down the street talking about the active shooter. Even at home, what happens if somebody comes into our home? What are you going to do? What are we going to do? How are we going to make sure our family's safe? And if you see something, say something. That's another conversation we need to have with our children. It's not called snitching, it's not called oh, they're not going to like me or anything like that. If you see something, say something, because your safety is important. Also, your classmates' safety and your teachers are important. I think also teaching our kids if you see something, say something.
Speaker 1:If something is making you uncomfortable or some conversations in school that make you uncomfortable, if somebody's threatening you, or even if you hear other students talk about they're going to blow up the school, anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, I think have that conversation with your teaching our kids to have that conversation with a trusting adult so that they can feel safe, because, honestly, safety is a top priority when they go to school. Um, so what else should we? Um talk about? Um with our kids? I think that's what it is, because right now you know, and even y'all even after something happens at school. Um, because a lot of times, we don't know what's going on in these schools until our students tell us really, or other parents, or we see it on the news, even after something has happened. Don't just like toss it away like something just happened.
Speaker 1:Like, really have that conversation with our students and our children to see how they feel. Like, how are you feeling about this? How did that make you feel? Um, what did you feel in the moment? How are you feeling now? Do you think about that often? Um, do you want to talk to somebody about it? Are your friends talking about it? How are your friends feeling? I think having those conversations with our kids are important too, because, honestly, like I feel like a parent. My job is not just my own children, but other children as well, the well-being of other children as well and parents.
Speaker 1:Another takeaway is like support these teachers, man, have conversations, open conversations with these teachers. Let them know that you know that you trust them with your children and that you want to know exactly what's going on in school. Like, even if it's just an email, if there was something that happened that day or my child had this conversation, or even if my child said some disturbing stuff, let me know about what was said, because that makes me alert. Right, I don't know what's going on in school, so, listen, I realized, probably last year, that my kids was using profanity. Right, I don't know what's going on in school, so, listen, I realized, probably last year, that my kids was using profanity. Right, they wasn't using profanity in front of me, but I heard that the teacher called me and told me my daughter was using profanity. I said what Are you serious? We don't even talk like that in this house. But she, oh she was talking like it as if she knew exactly what she was talking about, right?
Speaker 1:So, again, having those conversations with your teachers, being open and able to communicate with your teachers, so that you know exactly what's going on with your child and that your children understand that we're on the same page, right? I think communication is the best thing for for everything. That's the answer to everything. Let's talk about it. What is exactly going on in your mind? We don't know what's in each other's mind until it's exposed, right, until we talk about it, or to something bad happens. We don't want nothing bad happen. So let's talk.
Speaker 1:So, communicating with your don't? You don't you know, even when it matter of fact, parents. Even when a teacher calls you and 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 up to the school, go off on the teacher, all that other stuff, craziness. I heard a story this week where the parent went up to the school, started chasing the teacher, started doing all this crazy stuff in front of the student and because the parent couldn't handle her own emotional thoughts, right, her own emotions, she literally went up 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 just want our kids to be successful and whatever it takes for them to be successful.
Speaker 1:Whitney, who's a teacher, elementary teacher, she said. I think something that's on her mind is even bigger, she said. She said candy sharing with other kids like gummies. That's a big conversation. I've had being heard a lot about kids being not whoa. Okay, whitney, I'm trying to read that because it's like blowing my mind. Right now Whitney is saying that. Now. Whitney's an elementary school teacher, right, so she's saying here that kids are passing gummies around and gummies. You know, we're talking about edibles. We're not talking about just regular gummies, we're talking about edibles. So kids are passing gummies around and kids are high. You know what, whitney, that is so true. My daughter was in elementary school and she told me that her friend had gave her a brownie and she ate the brownie, and she told me that she felt high all day. She never knew what high was feeling like, but she felt bad all day, and she didn't even tell me, though, until like a week later. I was a little disturbed why she waited so long to tell me.
Speaker 1:However, teach our children sharing is caring, but we can't take everything at the. At the end of the day, it's almost like you can't even share, though. Teach our kids not to just take stuff from other kids because they they are, um, sending drugs. I remember growing up um our articles 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 were talking about how some predators not other classmates or whatever, some predators were putting stuff in candy, lowering kids with candy, and it would have drugs in them and then they would kidnap, rape and do whatever they want to these kids. I heard that growing up it was predators, right. They would kidnap, rape and do whatever they want to these kids. I heard that growing up it was predators, right. I didn't even know until like recently that other kids are giving other kids candy that are like edibles.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, teaching our kids not to 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're teaching our kids that we're supposed to share, be kind. You know all these things, but at the same time, for their own safety, we, we can't afford you. We can't say, oh, you could take something from Bobby, but you can't take something from Ricky or Mike. We can't do that because then kids will feel like you're discriminating. There's so many things. So I think, at the end of the day, just teaching them not to um, not to not to um take, take anything from anybody. What I pack in your lunches, what I pack in your lunch, the snacks that I pack, are your snacks and that's it. Like no, I, I didn't even tell my kids to take stuff from other adults. Like I really don't like you. You just never know what's going on with stuff. So, yeah, that's another thing.
Speaker 1:About safety. Um, it's sad that we got to talk about these situations. We got to talk about food safety, fire safety, bomb safety, shooting safety, stab bomb safety, shooting safety, stabbing safety, man fighting because 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 their head the wrong way and they just die and then now you got a murder case. So it's a lot that we're dealing with and I think that we need to continue to have these conversations about how to prevent and how to keep our children safe and parents honestly listen.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing, though. I'm on the parents, like children, only do what they know and they don't do what they don't know. Right, like you can't do what you don't know. You don't do what they don't know. Right, like you can't do what you 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 you hear. So whatever you expose to the senses are, they're going to end up doing it.
Speaker 1:So it's up to us to take responsibility of making sure that our kids get everything that they need, of making sure that our kids get everything that they need, because if we don't give our children the tools, if we don't dress our children, the world will dress them whatever they want. To dress them right, the world will give them whatever they want feed their mind and think that they're on an up and up, right. But we know that there's ways that seems right to man. There's a way that man thinks everything is okay, that they don't have to listen to God or a higher power, that they think that we got it all together as if we created ourself in this world.
Speaker 1:Don't let me get on a tangent about that, but I will say that tonight, though, I want to leave this conversation tonight with prayer, as many of you know that I am a Christian and I love God and I'm going to talk about God and everything I do. But I also know that not everybody who view my show or who are in tune with it. But I think that everybody also wants to parent successfully, right, want to give our children a 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 to hear the prayer, I'm perfectly. I'm going to close this out. If you, if anybody who don't want to hear the prayer, that I'm perfectly fine if you guys log off now or um, or you're welcome to stay to hear the prayer, but I'm definitely we're going to pray for our children because there's too many.
Speaker 1:I just found out from our um, my producer, that a 12 year old was just shot yesterday in Philadelphia. So, like, listen, gun violence is on the rise and I believe prayer changes things. I believe that prayer gives us insight of how we need to be innovative and how we can come up with different strategies on how to make sure our children are safe. Right, so tonight I want you guys 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 taken serious enough. You know, when we see what just happened, when the former president was allegedly shot in the ear, and we see somebody just attempted to take his life again, um, I don't know the backdrop of all this stuff, but I do know that guns are at the forefront and, um, we gotta do something about it, period.
Speaker 1:So right now, um, father God, our heavenly father, in the name of Jesus, god, we just thank you, god for today. God. We thank you, god, that we are alive and well. God, we thank you, god, for the conversation that we're having regarding around parenting, god, regarding around safety, god, regarding around our children, god, father, god, we thank you, god, for providing and protecting our children, god, from danger, seen and unseen.
Speaker 1:God, there are so many situations, god, that we don't even know that you protected our children from God, whether it be somebody trying to kidnap them, somebody trying to molest or rape them, god, even car accidents, gun violence, stabbing, violence, whatever, it is, god, that we see that your hands is protecting our children, god. So, father God, we pray right now, god, that our schools become safer than they ever been safe before, God, that there is no violence happening in our school. That our children are able to go to school, god, and be able to learn and pursue careers, god, that they see fit for themselves, god, to be successful. That they get the necessary tools, God, so that they can be successful in life. God, successful, that they get the necessary tools, god, so that they can be successful in life. God, that we know, god, that school, father, god, even in this young age, it's such a pivotal point in our life, like a foundation, god, that we have for our children, god, to learn, god, to be able to communicate properly. So, god, we ask you, god, to protect the teachers, god, the administrators, god, the environmental service, the cafeteria workers, god, the safety and patrol. God. Protect them at their playground. God, protect them all over the school campuses.
Speaker 1:God, we trust you, god, with our children. God, we trust you with their whole life, god, that we put their hands in your hands. God, father God, we just thank you, god. We know, god, that you said, god, that we ask God, we shall have God, father God, we just thank you, god. We know, god, that you said, god, that we ask God, we shall have God.
Speaker 1:And Father God, we are on an assignment today, god, there's an urgency, god, for parenting with 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 successful. God, to bring them up good and standing and right, morally, characterically. God, children, god, making sure that their character is in place. God, making sure that their morals and values are in place. God. So, father, god, that our children don't bring any danger to anyone else in society, and not even to themselves. So, father God, we trust you with our kids. We love you, we adore you, god, and we lift you up, god.
Speaker 1:So, father God, cover any parent that's looking at this video, god, looking at this podcast, listening to this podcast, father God, let it be a reminder to them, god, that we need to take action, we need to be there for our kids. God, we need to put. Whatever situations, god, whatever wounds that we have, we need to get those healed. We need to seek therapy, we need to seek counseling, we need to seek help so that we don't bleed over our children, so that we don't have a generation after 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, that you have given us everything that we need to be successful. God, that you supply resources in our lives. So we thank you, we thank you and we thank you, god and Father God, if any parent decides that they 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.
Speaker 1:Again, my name is Donna Janelle. I am your host. Remember that. Check your kids' school bags. Remember, have a conversation with your kids. Remember, understand what this active school shooting drill is so that you can have that conversation with your kids, because we want to make sure that our kids are mentally and physically safe, you guys. So, thank you, tune in again next week for Panty for the Purpose. You guys have a great day.
