Publisher’s Note A Tough Job Just Got Harder
Stadium Childcare Providers for the Atlanta Braves
It’s tough to be a parent, harder than any of us realized when we first found out we’d be having a family. And it remains the hardest job you’ll ever love, even when your children, like my daughter, have families of their own. The job changes as your children grow, but you never quit being a mom or dad, wanting the best for your kids. When our children are younger, we want safety; we want to shelter them from evil. And at some point, we realize that’s just not possible, no matter how much we might wish it. Maybe that’s why the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, resonates so deeply with us, even if we didn’t personally know any of the families involved, and makes us want to hold our children close. Until a 20-year-old man turned his guns on 20 innocent children and six teachers, we never had to be too concerned about the safety of our children in elementary school. We might worry they’d be injured in a playground fall or become a target for bullying, but we never imagined they could be terrorized by a gunman. Just as the Columbine High School killings in 1999 changed our perception of safety in high school, this tragic incident will give us just one more worry for our younger children. Some of the young students and teachers at Sandy Hook might owe their lives to the heightened school security put in place in all of our schools after Columbine. It’s hard to keep in mind that incidents like this are thankfully rare. With increased security measures taken since 1999, our schools are safer from people intent on doing harm. As more information unfolds about the latest tragedy, I’m sure school security will undergo a thorough evaluation, though it’s not possible to turn our schools into fortresses, nor would we want to. We want our children to come home each day, full of stories about what happened in school, and we want none of those stories to be tragic. As a community, we need to come together to look at all the issues in this tragedy, from the availability of mental health services to assault weapons. We also need to consider how our culture portrays violence in television, movies and video games. On a local level, we need to support our schools and be involved in the decisions that affect our kids. This month’s issue, which contains our annual A+ Education Guide, focuses on the many positives in our schools – the educational opportunities and innovations that are preparing our kids for a changing world. Most importantly, we must hug and kiss our children and tell them we love them, and send them off to school.
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We welcome your views and comments. Letters that appear in the magazine may be edited for content and space.
10 Atlanta Parent January 2013
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