World News: The talks families are having

Sunday, May 29

May 26, 2022: A family pays their respects next to crosses bearing the names of Tuesday's shooting victims at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Parents talk to us after the Texas shooting

Good evening. We asked families about their response to the shooting. This is what we heard back.

In the moments after the Texas school shooting that sent the country reeling with questions and sadness, the conversation included wondering what conversations parents and children were having.

What daily routines would be different and what, if any, daily goodbyes might have changed?

It's with that in mind that USA TODAY Opinion sought out and gathered comments from parents and grandparents.

Columnist Connie Schultz took those recordings and wrote something every parent or person caring for a child should read.

Her column is for subscribers, which you can become with this link. But today we're offering a preview.

'Praying for myself too': Parents struggle with goodbye after another school shooting

Every family has its rituals.

From those first wakeful moments to the end of the day when heads sink into nighttime pillows, each family moves to its own rhythm. At its best, family is a safe place steeped in the comforts of familiarity. From special nicknames to the shared history of private jokes, traditions bloom.

An essential ritual for families with school-age children revolves around the morning's fleeting farewell. Our mission, seldom articulated but felt deep in our bones, is to fuel our children's courage to explore the big world unfolding before them. Braided into the ritual of departure is the promise of their safe return.

For many parents, these morning goodbyes become a fraught endeavor in the wake of a school shooting. As we all know by now, 19 children, ages 9 to 10, and two of their teachers were killed by a gunman Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. As we also know, this tragedy has gutted parents across the country.

Crosses with the names of Tuesday's shooting victims are placed outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Thursday, May 26, 2022. The 18-year-old man who slaughtered 19 children and two teachers in Texas left a digital trail that hinted at what was to come.

Jae C. Hong, AP

► Megan LaFollette, a mother from Louisville, Kentucky, said she always tells her children, "Have a good day, I love you and make good choices."

The day after the shootings, that upbeat message filled her with dread.

"It was hard to tell them to make good choices today because I don't even know what that means anymore."

► Terry Kubiak is from Tulsa, Oklahoma. "My heart is breaking over all these mass murders," she said. "And I just don't understand why our politicians will not enact some type of gun control."

Read the full column

You can read the rest of our coverage of the shooting

•	He was principal at Columbine 23 years ago. He gets asked over and over why little has changed.
•	I've confronted an active shooter. We need more answers to know what went wrong in Texas.
•	Texas schoolchildren begged for help with officers waiting outside. Be very mad about that.
•	In this breakneck bulleted world, each shooting can slip from memory. We can't forget.