To think this isn't an appropriate subject for a class of 7 year olds.

[HappyCria]

Ds has been learning about famous scots at school he has really been enjoying it and coming home all excited telling us everything that he has been told.
Last night he came home and the conversation went like this.

Ds- You know there is a famous scot who is still alive.

Me- Wow who is that?

Ds- He plays tennis.

Me- ooh Andy Murray

Ds- Yes. You know he had to hide under a table mummy.

Me- What? (thinking surely this isn't going to go the way I think it is)

Ds- How did the man with the gun get in mummy?

Me- did your teacher tell you this?

Ds- Yes

Ds does not seem at all bothered by being told about this. It's just another interesting story to him it seems no different to him then when he was learning about William Wallace or Mary Queen of scots.

Maybe I am being a little sensitive about it but I just feel that 7 year olds could be really scared by this. I was in primary school myself when the Dunblane shooting happened and I was so scared that it could happen to me.

Especially since they are being told about it while sitting in a classroom in Scotland. I think they should be allowed to feel safe in their surroundings for a little while longer without learning this sort of horrors happen.

Do you also turn the news off when your DS is in the room? There has recently been the story of a girl dying in a school in Scotland because a wall collapsed on her.

I think you are remembering how ot affected you rather than seeing how it hasn't affected your DS at all.

I also have a 7 year old DS and he would pretty much shrug off information like that.

YABU and over sensitive I think.

Actually, I on balance think YANBU. I know that some children have to deal with the harsh realities of life from an early age but I think, where there is a choice, I would prefer my children not to have to face up to things earlier than necessary, and I would like to have the choice as to what they hear about. My DD (7) doesn't get to watch the news. Hopefully your DS has handled it well - which may or may not be due to the way the teacher handled it - but other children might be more upset.

I understand why people are using the term 'history' to describe the shooting, but please don't

I'm from Dunblane, I was a teenager at the time and my younger siblings were at the school at the time (and one of them shot at). To me it isn't history like William Wallace, it is still a very raw and upsetting memory and one that has profoundly shaped me as a person.

One thing I'm glad about Murray being such a success is that I don't have to hide quite so much about where I'm from (I now live on the other side of the country). I'm proud to claim to have been at the same school as him, and while when I tell people that there is quite often a connection about what else that means, people generally ask less intrusive questions than they did before when I said I was from Dunblane.

Op I don't actually think yabu. I'm a primary teacher and I've always had a very strict policy about not discussing it with children. I actually work in a tough area where there is some gun crime, and because of that I don't want to make any child worry that it might happen to them. I irrationally worry about the same thing happening in my current school, but it would be extremely unfair to make any child feel the same.