This Mom's Moving Video About School Shooter Drills Will Break Your Heart

Emily Feret, a popular TikTok creator, is known for her funny and lighthearted takes on messy houses, the chaos of motherhood, and “normalizing normal” lives that the majority of us live. She takes the filter off social media and shows the nitty-gritty of everyday life.

However, her latest TikTok video took a more somber tone, although she still kept it real about a very sobering, very scary “normal” piece of life for every parent with a school-aged child — a piece of life that just really sucks.

“So, my daughter came home today and talked about how they did a fire drill,” she says into the camera. “And when she told me where they all walked, I thought it was weird that they walked there.”

“I didn't really think much anything of it until she said it was a rally point, and then I knew it wasn't a fire drill.”

In the military, a rally point is a place, designated by the leader of the troop, where the unit moves to reassemble and reorganize if they get dispersed or separated. Several schools who follow the ALICE method for active shooter drills will also practice rally point drills, making sure kids know where to go in case of an emergency.

Feret continues, getting choked up, by venting about how awful it is to send kids to school in this day and age when you never know when something tragic may occur.

“I hate it. Every day I drop my kid off. I pray that it's not the day that she gets shot at school. Every day, Monday through Friday, every single time I leave her,” she says.

“She started talking about a book they read about wolf and sheep and how they would push their desks up against the door to keep the wolf out and how the teacher kept the sheep safe. And she didn't think anything of that.”

Feret explains her daughter’s working knowledge of an active shooter drill ends with the “wolf and sheep” analogy, and that’s where it’ll stay for the time being.

“I did not delve into the whole topic with her because I know my kid, and she would not be able to handle that information without having anxiety over it right now. So, we're keeping it at wolf and sheep, and I hate that it will just be normal for her. And I hate that I'm just gonna have to hold my breath, worrying about that till I die,” she concluded.

Feret captioned the post: “Homeschooling is not the answer by the way. This gutted me. I hate that this is part of my parenthood journey. Fight. VOTE. #guncontrolsaveschildrenslives #americaschoolsystems #alicedrill”

Several parents empathized with Feret’s emotional video, lamenting over the current state of gun control (or lack thereof) in America.

“There is NO reason it HAS to be like this. We need major changes,” one user wrote.

“As a mom, I feel you. As a teacher, know we do everything we can do and it breaks our hearts to have to do them too,” another said.

One user shared, “My second grader tells me when they have ‘intruder drills.’ She says they scare her. The school lets us know ahead of time but I’m tired of this.”

We’re all so tired.

On Instagram, Feret elaborated on how she felt about school shooter drills, writing beautiful prose that sums up how the majority of parents feel when we kiss our kids goodbye each day at school drop-off.

“I memorize what she wears every day so I can find her quickly. I panic a bit when the school calls. I plan what I would do. How I would get to school quickly. How it might feel to not see her at that rally point,” she wrote.

“I think about her being scared when it happened. I think about her dying, feeling scared and wanting her mom .I think about these things. Everyday. Monday through Friday. And my daughter is in Kindergarten. But she is a sheep. And I live in America. Where wolves come into schools with guns. I may never get to relax about it.”

Firearms recently became the number one cause of death for children in the United States, surpassing motor vehicle deaths and those caused by other injuries. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released updated official mortality data that showed 45,222 firearm-related deaths in the United States in 2020 — a new peak.

There have been at least 53 school shootings in the United States so far this year, as of September 19. Sixteen of those were on college campuses and the remaining 37 were on K-12 school grounds. The incidents have left at least 27 people dead and more than 56 injured, according to CNN’s analysis of events reported by the Gun Violence Archive, Education Week, and Everytown for Gun Safety.

To learn more about gun safety and how to be part of active change to gun laws in America, visit Moms Demand Action.