Look. I get it. Whether you are a parent or a teacher, raising and teaching kids in a world with school shootings makes you sick.
You give the lockdown drills happening at your school the exact amount of attention that you have to and not a drop more.
Parents, avoidance is somewhat comfortable for you. But deep down you wonder what you should be teaching your child to help them be safe in a worst-case scenario. You also fear that your child is scared, but you have no idea how to handle that. So you just stay quiet.
Teachers, you wonder if the plan your administration has given you is truly the best. (Or worse, they didn’t give you a plan.) You don’t feel prepared for this conversation with your students.
Listen, Run, Hide is the perfect tool to help both parents and teachers introduce life-saving knowledge to children in a way that is empowering and age-appropriate.
You Need Something Specific...
The day I learned my child would be doing lockdown drills, my mama heart broke a little. I knew I needed to be ready to hold whatever emotions she brought home.
What’s more, I wanted to teach her what she should do if something were to happen at her school. I wanted to increase her chance of coming home to me.
But I had no idea what to say.
I checked for books to help me, but couldn’t find what I knew we needed.
Why Other Lockdown Drill Books Don’t Work
❌ They use imagination to try to soften the conversation - but this goes against best practices for talking to children about hard topics.
Children take things very literally. If you only ever teach them about what to do if a dragon comes to their school, they won’t know what to do if a bad person comes to their school. They only ever practiced for dragons…
What’s more, when you talk around an issue, you inadvertently tell your child the topic is uncomfortable to you. They won’t feel safe bringing it up to you later on when they need you most.
❌ They address only the emotional side of lockdown drills.
Helping your child process their emotions around lockdown drills is important. But if you only ever talk to them about their feelings, you miss the point of lockdown drills - to teach your child to get to safety.
We may as well not do drills and save ourselves the scary feelings if we only ever talk about the emotions and never the lessons.
❌ They are too passive.
Other lockdown drill books will teach your child how to sit in the corner and be quiet. They explain how the teacher will lock the door. But you know that only works if your child is in the classroom when the lockdown happens.
What if they are walking back from the bathroom? What if they don’t make it into their classroom before the door locks?
I craved something that would empower my child to get to safety no matter the situation. I wanted something that taught her to put herself first. Always.
So you know what? I stopped waiting for someone else to fix this. I wrote the dang book every mom needs.
Vetted by the Nation's Top School Safety Leaders
First, I researched lockdown drills across the United States. I looked at what the federal government was recommending and how private safety companies adapted these ideas.
I read pages of policies from school districts and law enforcement agencies around the nation. And I even did a deep dive into why we do lockdown drills and where they began.
(I also did deep dives into children’s literature and how books can be used to address hard topics… but that’s a story for another time.)
Next was collaboration.
Multiple nationally-recognized lockdown drill experts helped shape the instruction with the most notable being Katherine (Kate) Schweit, the creator of the FBI’s active shooter program. Kate says she is passionate about helping families have conversations with kids about safety because she has seen it save lives.
Additionally, pediatric mental health care providers reviewed the manuscript to ensure it was as soft as possible.
(There was also a lot of collaboration with kid lit experts but, again, a story for another time.)
I didn’t write this book to get rich. In fact I’m donating the profits to gun violence prevention.
I just want you to have a better resource so you can be a better parent or teacher.
More Than a Story - A Safety Conversation Starter
What does this book teach? Exactly what you and your child or students need to know so that they respond to an emergency in the way that puts their safety first.
Your conversation will leave them feeling empowered and supported through their lockdown drill experiences.
Teachers:
❌No more lockdown drills spent wondering if you are saying the right thing.
❌No more freezing when the hard questions are asked.
And, when you send a book order form home to the families of your students…
❌No more shouldering the lockdown drill conversation alone. Because your ability to support your students ends when they leave your classroom.
Parents:
❌No more pushing the topic out of your mind and hoping for the best (you know better 😘).
❌ No more wondering what would keep them safe.
❌No more feeling nervous that you’re going to say the wrong thing.
❌No more leaving your child to sit with this alone while inside you know they need you.
Just honest, age-appropriate, non-scary, empowering discussions about staying safe.
Listen, Run, Hide takes the FBI's acticve shooter protocol (Run, Hide, Fight) and makes it kid-friendly.
As you read about Willa turning to her family for support, Listen, Run, Hide teaches your child to...
1) Listen
I get it. Your child or students don't always listen to you at the best of times and you worry about how they may act in an emergency. I was there too.
That’s why the first thing Listen, Run, Hide teaches is to listen and follow directions during emergencies.
In a high-stakes moment where seconds matter, you need your child or students to do what you ask, quickly, and without question. This book will help you teach them exactly that.
2) Run
Your child and students are told to not run in public all the time. But you realize that in an emergency, running could save their life.
For example, did you know that during the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, nine students survived because they ran out of the classroom?
Listen, Run, Hide will give your child or students a clear understanding that their safety is more important than rules. Sometimes running is not only allowed, but it’s exactly what you want them to do. What you need them to do. Their safety depends on it.
They need your help to understand that the rules they learn each and every day, go out the window when there is danger.
3) Hide
We tell our children and students not to hide from us (that’s scary) or from their friends (that’s rude - except for when playing games of course). But hiding in an emergency could literally save their life.
You need to have a conversation with your child or students so they know hiding when they feel unsafe is okay. They need you to teach them that areas that are normally off-limits like emergency exits, teachers lounges, and employee-only areas, are all good places for hiding.
Reading Listen, Run, Hide will empower you and your child to adopt a safety-first view of their world.
But that's not all...
This lockdown drill book is unlike any other.
Whether at school or at home, you’ll want to apply everything you and your child or students just learned to their daily routine. But you won’t have to do it alone.
The guide at the end of the story will walk you through the exact follow-up questions to ask your child or students. They will know exactly who they should trust, which rules they should break, and where they should go for safety.
Thanks to your guidance, your child or students will have a specific safety plan and you will remove all guesswork - leaving them feeling confident, empowered, and ready to put their own safety first.
Read it with your Child. In your safe space. On your terms.
Most lockdown drill books take place and are designed to be read in school. But this book has been built for both classroom and home use.
Parents, you know your child better than anyone. You’ll be able to read their body language and their facial expressions.
You’ll be able to give them clarity if they become confused. You’ll reassure them if they feel scared. When you read Listen, Run, Hide with your child you’ll become their biggest support as they navigate something difficult. No one can do this like you.
Easily applied to the classroom.
It’s important to you that your child or students understand what they should do and where they should go inside their own school.
That’s why Willa’s story includes pictures of Willa and her classmates in a school setting - in a classroom, in the hallway, and in a teachers supply room.
You’ll be able to use these pictures as visual prompts to answer questions like, “where would I go inside of my own classroom/hallway/etc.?”
With tips from multiple professionals.
Including:
✅ Licensed child psychologists, who know how to break down tough topics for kids
✅ Children’s literature experts, who know how to teach through powerful stories
✅ National experts in school safety and crisis response, who know what works best in a real emergency
And the creator of the FBI’s Active Shooter Program wrote the foreword.
Be the Safe Person They Need for This Conversation
Grownup, I totally feel you. This topic is terrifying and you wish desperately that this wasn’t a part of life for your child or students. Me too!
And if you and I were in charge, we’d snap our fingers and remove this type of emergency forever.
But you can’t control the world they’re growing up in.
All you can control is:
💛 the support they receive
💛 the safety lessons they learn
💛 and that they don’t grow up with this scary reality alone.
Your child or students need you but you don't have to do it alone. Let Listen, Run, Hide make this hard conversation easier.
