It is only halfway through 2018 but numerous of school shooting incidents have already happened and it is sadly continuing. The worst part of it all is that the suspects are all teenagers. On January 23, a 15-year-old student from Marshall County High School managed to shoot 16 people and 2 of them died in Kentucky. On February 14, a 19-year-old former student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida went on a killing spree that led to the death of 17 people.
This then led to a student-led demonstration that happened on March in Washington D.C., known as March For Our Lives, wherein some of the survivors showed up and revealed their devastating experiences as well as asking for better and tougher gun laws in the country and this was even supported by tons of celebrities.
The most recent tragedy happened just a few weeks ago in Texas, wherein a 17-year-old boy named Dimitrios Pagoutzis, killed a total of 10 people. Experts are now taking on the effects of these tragic incidents as well as what they tell their own children about it, continue reading to find out more.
School Shooting Effects
One of the biggest school shooting events in American history happened last February in Florida. This has led to teenagers, parents, and teachers supporting one another with the hopes that government officials would toughen up gun laws in the country.
Just a few months after that, another school shooting incident happened but this time it was in Texas. A girl named Paige Curry gave an interview to CNN and explained what happened, she along with some other students has to hide while the shooting was going on. Curry said that she was terribly scared, but then in the back of her mind, she admitted that she kind of expected this to happen.
It has been happening multiple times this year and she said that it felt like they were just waiting for it to happen and it unfortunately did. The gunman is now with the authorities. According to the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, the gun was legally owned by the father of the teenager who managed to kill 10 people.
According to the father of Pagourtzis, his son was mistreated at school and had always been bullied. He mentioned that his son is a victim as well. That pain naturally triggers and changes people and his son had too much of it. The 17-year-old actually spared the lives of those whom he liked and killed those he doesn’t. However, according to the administration of the school, Pagourtzis weren’t bullied in any way.
This is a somewhat a similar plot on one of the episodes of the second season of the controversial Netflix series “13 Reasons Why”. There was an attempted school shooting incident wherein the main character tried to talk some sense out of another character who had actually been bullied in the first season.
This then caused a lot of people, especially teenagers to be triggered because of how important and timely this topic is. Some parents and mental health experts are now calling out on Netflix to simply cancel the show. Experts say that this doesn’t just trigger some students but could also encourage those who are already been struggling.
Mental Health Experts Take On School Shooting
Clinical psychologist Allison Agliata, who happens to have three children, shared to NBC what are some of the most effective ways to talk to your children about this sensitive topic. Wilson explained that it is best to let your children lead, by letting them ask what they want to know.
Make sure that they know that it’s okay for them to ask anything they want to know. This kind of parental approach would stop the guardians from sharing too much that the children wouldn’t be able to understand, or they may also share a little less than they would end up leaving their children wondering.
Licensed clinical social worker Lynn Zakeri, said that letting children know that they could express their thoughts and feelings to their parent is very important. Her teenager son felt overwhelmed by the recent tragic situation but she made sure that she let him feel scared, worried and more. Children need to know that there is nothing for them to fear by feeling all of these emotions.