Lockout

Yesterday I got a blast email that there was a lockout at the school.  A lockout is when they lock the doors and don't let anybody in or out, bring all the kids in from outside (which means the playground and the portables, which is where Andy is), but they continue with their normal classroom activities.  It is not the same as a lockdown.  The notice was for our school and several others.  The only thing it said was that it was due to police activity in the area.

I'm really not one of those moms that worries.  When I do start to worry about things regarding the kids that I have no control over, I remind myself of that and try to stop.  I am not a helicopter mom and I try very hard to let my kids figure things out for themselves without endangering themselves or others (or being rude).  However, there is a slight amount of panic that sets in when you find out your kids are in lockout.  Or, there is less than a month after a school massacre.

I know that there are thousands upon thousands of elementary schools in this country and that Sandy Hook is very far away and that guy was extremely sick in the head and the chances of that happening here are slim to none.  But I also now live within 30 minutes of both Columbine High School and the Aurora movie theater.  Again, not to say that would happen at my kids' school but I do find myself looking around a little bit more as I walk Sarah to school in the morning and I'm no longer excited about Andy walking by himself to his before school activities.   Even though we live about 100 yards from the school, we don't live close enough.

It wasn't a big deal, the lockout was called off less than two hours later and the kids weren't even worried about it.  They wouldn't have even told me about it if I hadn't asked.  That shows me that my kids are in a great school, where they can do drills or have a real life exercise and the kids don't know the difference and it's just part of the day.  As far as Sarah was concerned, "It just means that we have to have inside recess, but that's fun too."

I know I have three kids and sometimes I joke about how if anything happens to any of them it's not a problem because I have an extra, but that's all talk.  I love my kids more than I can tell you and I worked really hard to get them and I want to see them grow up and have kids of their own.  That shouldn't be too much to ask.