Photo of toddler standing on toilet as part of lockdown drill goes viral

A photo of a 3-year-old girl standing on a toilet has gone viral but not for reasons you may expect.

"The moment she told me what she was doing I broke down," writes the child's mother Stacey Feeley in a Facebook post.

Feeley says she initially took the picture thinking she would send it to her husband to show what their "mischievous" toddler was up to.

But she explains that she was shocked and saddened when the child told her that she was practicing a lockdown drill that she learned at preschool, to hide from a potential attacker on campus.

Feeley describes it as a moment when she realized a sense innocence of was taken away from her child.

The Michigan mother posted the photo with a pointed message to lawmakers about gun control.

"Politicians - take a look. This is your child, your children, your grandchildren, your great grand children and future generations to come. 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 toilet seats. 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?"

At last check the post was shared more than 16,800 times.

Thousands of Facebook users have reacted to Feeley's message and many have commented, saying it is "heartbreaking" and "painful" to see kids having to grow up with these concerns and fears.

One user posted that her child was taught the same drill and was told that they "had to be very quiet, so that the man with the gun can't hear us."

Feeley's post ends with a plea for action.

"I am not pretending to have all the answers or even a shred of them, but unless you want your children standing on top of a toilet, we need to do something! Please share. ‪#‎dosomething‬ ‪#‎prayfororlando‬ ‪#‎wecandobetter‬ Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America."