Child's heartwrenching reason for not wearing light-up shoes to school highlights a grim reality

Childhood is often seen as a time of innocence, but in today’s world, it's difficult to maintain that innocence when grim realities, like school shootings, are impossible to escape—even for kids. Social media constantly exposes them to the harshest aspects of life. Recently, a Canadian user on X, @bigredsibin, shared a post from a mother that reveals just how deeply this violence has affected her young daughter’s sense of safety.

The X user shared a snapshot of a post written by Lindsay Van Allen, the mom of a fifth-grader, who explained something that happened when she went shopping to buy her daughter, Maisy, a pair of new school shoes. "I was buying Maisy school shoes and she told me she didn't want a pair of light-up shoes," the mom wrote. Seeing that her daughter was specific about not getting the cute and quirky LED shoes, the mom assumed that it was because she was growing up and getting into the 5th grade and that she didn't want to look "childish."

But the real reason behind the daughter's choice of footwear was quite tragic. "She said, 'What if there's a lockdown drill or school shooter? Light-up shoes would make me stand out,'" the mom wrote. The child was so concerned about the possibility of the school shooting that she was ready to give up shoes with lights, which any kid would desire. Speaking of this dire impact school shootings have on American children, the mom added, "We have officially failed, as a country, when a 10-year-old doesn't want light-up shoes because she's afraid of being a shooting victim." Big Red's post quickly went viral with more than 670,000 views in just a couple of days.

"This is completely heartbreaking," the caption read as the post triggered emotional responses. "The good old days when our parents told us to go to the park and come home when it's dark. I wish I could do the same for my kids one day," said @TheManTheDuke. "No kid should ever have to think that way. My husband and I loved buying our kids light-up shoes. That’s just not fair," remarked @ChiChiGreenblat. "My son came home in the 2nd or 3rd week of Kindergarten saying he needed new shoes even though his shoes were less than a month old. There had been an active shooter drill and was told his light-up shoes were a danger to himself and his classmates," added @tiggermenow.

A teen's response to her mom's random "I love you" text is another example of the psychological impact of school shootings on children. The mom, Shari, who is known as @gen3raleducation on TikTok, casually sent an "I love you" message to her teen daughter from the office but was shocked to find concerned replies from her daughter asking, "Are you okay?" The teen immediately called her mom and said that she shouldn't have sent the "I love you" text without context. "That's what you send when you're in trouble, like a school shooting," the teen explained and this broke the mom's heart. The internet agreed that this is the reality of children living in America which many parents and teachers could relate to.