Change in Plans

Today was supposed to be a special day.

My daughter was supposed to go outside to enjoy her birthday treat at school.

But she didn’t.

She stayed inside to enjoy it because a neighboring school district had a shooting threat called in.

She didn’t know that was the reason why.

She simply said, “It was nice out, but we didn’t go. We had to change our plan.”

Short, sweet, matter of fact, and simple.

I’m really glad a fresh 7 year old can change the plan so quickly.

I’m also really sad, and angry, and frustrated that this is the reality for my child.

On the flip side, I had to explain the change in plans to my own students today.

With limited information, some even completely incorrect thanks to social media and the news, I had to keep my cool and explain the “change in plans” to some very confused kids who noticed the particularly beautiful weather we were missing out on.

But we did it. They adjusted while I secretly scanned my doors and went through my own plan in my head, “just in case”.

However, we adjusted and we were lucky to go back to our regularly scheduled outdoor activities sooner than later when all was deemed safe.

If a group of children can adjust their plans in order to keep themselves safe, why can’t others do the same in order to keep our kids safe?

We could all use a little adjusting.

Quite frankly, I’m ready for some to happen.