Innocence Lost?

Yesterday Tyler received a note from his school alerting parents that they were going to begin doing "lock-down drills". My initial response was that this was a great idea and then after a bit more thought I began to wonder how they are explaining these drills to the students. I know that I personally have not discussed with the boys what has happened over the last couple of weeks in schools across the country. I have made sure not to have the news on with them in the room by chance this topic comes up. Yes, I have discussed strangers and told them that there are bad people in the world who do bad things but I have never told them that this could happen to them in school of all places. I want them to feel safe and not be afraid of school. So, this morning I tried to touch on the lock-down drill situation with the boys and asked them if they knew why they are having them. They both responded by saying "no." I was kind of hoping that maybe the teachers had lightly touched on the subject but they hadn't yet. So I had to tell them that in other states things have happened and people have wandered in from off the street and done some bad things and the school is doing this so they can make sure that you are all safe. Owen then asked me what states they did this in and of course the first one that came to my mind was what happened in PA. I couldn't even say because to them that isn't far away because we go to the cabin and it was too close and I didn't want to frighten them. What have you told your children? Is there a way I could tell them what is going on without scaring them? What ever happened to the days when you went to school and your biggest fear was that somebody else would be wearing the exact same shirt or jeans as you?!?