Winnie the Pooh is teaching Texas kids how to survive school shootings – and parents are upset
- A ‘Stay Safe’ book being given to children features the beloved bear telling them how to lock doors and hide when ‘danger is near’
- One mother called it ‘tone deaf’ to send the book home with kids without explanation near the anniversary of last year’s Uvalde mass shooting
Cindy Campos’ five-year-old son was so excited about the Winnie the Pooh book he got at school that he asked her to read it with him as soon as he got home. But her heart sank when she realised it was a tutorial about what to do when “danger is near”, advising children to lock the doors, turn off the lights and quietly hide.
As they read the Stay Safe book the school sent home without explanation or a warning to parents, she began crying, leaving her son confused.
“It’s hard because you’re reading them a bedtime story and basically now you have to explain in this cute way what the book is about, when it’s not exactly cute,” Campos said.
She said her first-grader, who goes to the same junior school as her pre-K son, also got a copy of the book last week. After posting about it in an online neighbourhood group, she found other concerned parents whose children had also brought the book home.
The district’s decision to send children home with the book has made waves. California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, tweeted: “Winnie the Pooh is now teaching Texas kids about active shooters because the elected officials do not have the courage to keep our kids safe and pass common sense gun safety laws.”