Mother’s reaction to 3-year-old’s lockdown drill goes viral

Stacey Feeley found her toddler standing on a toilet. She snapped a picture, thinking her daughter was just goofing around. But when she learned the three-year-old was practicing for a lockdown drill, she took to Facebook to share her thoughts.

In a post with over 9,000 likes and 16,000 shares, Feeley explained her frustration with the situation.

“They are barely 3 and they will hide in bathroom stalls standing on top of toilet seats,” she wrote after finding her preschooler standing on the toilet. “I do not know what will be harder for them? Trying to remain quiet for an extended amount of time or trying to keep their balance without letting a foot slip below the stall door?”

Posted June 15, the mother told ABC News that when she asked what her daughter was doing, the girl responded “Lockdown, you have to be really quiet.”

“It just broke me down,” Feeley said.

Feeley explained that her daughter did not understand exactly what she was practicing, but the mother was frustrated by the need for a three-year-old to have to prepare for a potential mass shooting.

“Politicians - take a look. This is your child, your children, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren and future generations to come,” she wrote. “They will live their lives and grow up in this world based on your decisions. They are barely 3 and they will hide in bathroom stalls standing on top of the toilet seat.”

In her call for universal background checks on gun purchases, she explained the reason behind them, saying, “No one thinks gun control will be 100% crime control. But maybe, just maybe, it helps 1% or 2% or 50%? Who knows unless we try?”

The post has roughly 1,700 comments and counting, becoming a sounding board for rhetoric of both sides of the gun-control debate.