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So I just wanted to share the doc "American Tragedy" with parents. Please watch it, I really urge you. (On Prime now) This notion of brain fitness and teaching mindfulness to kids really resonates with me for several reasons. (Thread)
I was in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, when Columbine happened. I caught it live on the news. I screamed at my tv for the swat team to just go in and help. I saw the kid being lowered put the window. I had to return to my vet tech school to alert people to watch the news bc so many
Of my classmates came from Littleton, a 15 minute ride from Aurora. I was devastating. Over the weeks of coverage and many years of reading about the case and learning more, I found Dylan's mother Sue to be someone who truly was caught unaware and had great remorse and guilt.
I read her book a couple of years ago and saw her TED talk. She talks about suicide and murder suicide prevention very frankly and urges parents to get resources before they face a tragedy, whether that is suicide or murder suicide. She explains she never gave it a thought prior-
Not HER sons, who were happy, attended to by devoted parents who freely expressed their love, and she explains therein lies the problem. The mentality of "this won't happen to me" needs to change to "this could happen so I need to be aware and utilize wellness tools to help my
kids when they find themselves struggling". I certainly didn't go to my parents with my inner turmoil as a teenager. Some kids do, sure. But we don't really always know who might need help. My friends lost their 18 yo son to suicide last month. Top student, had friends, parents
who loved him and showed that love. He hung himself one night, and they were absolutely lost. The note explained they didn't do anything wrong, he was done living and even if they had known, they wouldn't have stopped it. Is it possible that a mindfulness course in school early
On in his life might have helped him with these mind struggles? Research points to yes.
I would like you all to watch it and think about the information it gives.
We can all help the entire world by implementing some simple strategies. #CommitToBrainFit
I would like you all to watch it and think about the information it gives.
We can all help the entire world by implementing some simple strategies. #CommitToBrainFit
In a way I experienced this first hand. On Dec 14, 1992, my friend brought a rifle to school with the intent of committing suicide at the end of the day. In English class, he and the teacher got into it bc he wanted to read his poem (it was his suicide note, we learned)....
She refused and kicked him out if class. He returned with the gun and demanded to be allowed to read it. She went for the gun and he shot her in the face. I was two classrooms down, and it sounded like someone dropped books in the hallway....
The principal happened to be in our room that day. A couple of girls came running past, we thought they were giggling...they were crying and gibbering. He went out and came back a few minutes later to tell our teacher to lock the door. The Social Studies teacher walked past the..
Classroom door before the teacher could close it, and a student said 'Mr. Sive has a gun!" At this point, we were panicked. No one would tell us what was happening. We were soon ushered to the auditorium and told that Mrs. Wilcox had been shot in the face by a student and we...
Would be sent home. The auditorium went wild with students screaming "who shot her?" "I want to leave now, I don't feel safe!" It was chaos. Very quickly we learned it was one of my friends in the grade below me, a boy who was extremely smart, very kind, a little obnoxious but
Not mean. Not a loner or a goth kid but a nerdy math genius in the band. It couldn't be him. Could it? His parents owned a local business. He was well loved, had older siblings who were smart and active in school. He by all accounts appeared normal outwardly. But clearly inside..
He was struggling. No one knew. Not us, not his parents. No. One.
This story ends thankfully more positively. The teacher survived though she had many issues and a very long recovery. She no longer taught after that. He went to a juvenile facility (he was 15) and was released...
This story ends thankfully more positively. The teacher survived though she had many issues and a very long recovery. She no longer taught after that. He went to a juvenile facility (he was 15) and was released...
...at 17 and went on to come to the same college I went to in 1995. He lives a normal life and has a family and has never harmed anyone else.
But I wonder. If mindfulness training, calming skills, stress management skills had been available to him, would any of that ever happen?
But I wonder. If mindfulness training, calming skills, stress management skills had been available to him, would any of that ever happen?
That shooting at my school was 20 years TO THE DAY of Sandy Hook.
We have not done NEARLY enough as a country. There have been multiple school shootings between 1992 & Sandy Hook. Btwn Sandy Hook & NOW. And now we add on the pandemic. Our kids need resources now more than ever.
We have not done NEARLY enough as a country. There have been multiple school shootings between 1992 & Sandy Hook. Btwn Sandy Hook & NOW. And now we add on the pandemic. Our kids need resources now more than ever.
