Mum gives 5-year-old son at-home drills with backpack to prepare him for school shooting

A terrible but necessary lesson to teach someone at such a young age

A mother in America has gone viral after posting a TikTok of how she is preparing her son for the possibility of a school shooting. Cassie Walton from Oklahoma said that her five-year-old, Weston, saw news reports on the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas in May, which killed 19 children and two teachers and began asking questions. The mum then decided to be proactive. Having come across "bulletproof backpacks" on Amazon, Walton purchased a Spider-Man themed school bag for Weston and began training him to respond to a variety of hypothetical warnings.

@thewaltonfamily1 Happy back to school season…. #foryoupage #backtoschool #foryou #needschange #PostitAffirmations #momiktok ♬ L$d - Luclover

Videos show the mum running drills with Weston based on different scenarios, such as "get in the corner and be really quiet and still" and staying silent if someone knocks at the door asking "is anyone here?". Weston is told to make sure to keep his backpack on at all times even if teachers say otherwise. People commenting on the TikTok were deeply moved and upset by the heartbreaking clip. One person wrote, "This is terrifying but it’s our reality AND IT SHOULDNT Be!!", while another said: "I'm so sorry you have to teach this to your child, but good job Mom." Several people remarked that "this is one amongst many reasons I will be homeschooling" and after one commenter insisted that "those backpacks don't stop a 223 round", Walton shared another post in response.

@thewaltonfamily1 Replying to @Misti Cline-Wait Better than nothing. #foryou #PostitAffirmations #nohate #backtoschool #bulletproof #awareness ♬ Mind Yo Business - Lakeyah

As she explains in other videos, protective backpacks or "bulletproof inserts" are becoming an increasingly popular purchase among parents having to come to terms with the harsh reality of school shootings and how frequent they continue to be in the US. There have been 27 school shootings across America so far in 2022 and that pales in comparison to the number of mass shootings as a whole, of which there has already been more than 300 this year alone.