Tag: Suicide awareness

I have my ups and downs just like anybody else

maybe more than anybody else

I can be hard to figure out and I

like my privacy I don’t want you looking

over my shoulder all the time but you

know your kid better than anybody else

and if you think he’s acting different

than usual acting really down crying all

the time for no good reason or getting

really mad not able to sleep or sleeping

too much shutting her friends out or

giving her stuff away acting reckless

drinking using drugs staying out late

suddenly not doing stuff used to love or

doing stuff that’s just not like him it

might be nothing to worry about it might

just be high school or it might be

something more he might be depressed not

just feeling down really depressed it

might be your kid is thinking about

killing himself it happens more than you

think more than it should, and people say

I had no idea I thought it was just a

phase he was going through I never

thought she’d do it I wish he’d come to

I wish he had said something I wish I’d

said something when it’s too late

so, if you think your kids acting

different if she seems like a different

person

say something say what’s wrong how can I

help and ask him straight out are you

thinking about killing yourself it

doesn’t hurt to ask

in fact, it helps when people are

thinking about killing themselves they

want somebody to care

maybe you’re afraid

you’ll make it worse if you ask like

you’ll put the idea in their head

believe me it doesn’t work that way it

doesn’t hurt to ask in fact the best way

to keep a teenager from killing herself

is to ask are you thinking about killing

yourself and what if they say yes or

maybe or sometimes well here’s what you

don’t say that’s crazy

don’t be such a drama queen making too

much of this that boy’s not worth

killing yourself over it’s not going to

solve anything you’re just trying to get

attention you’re not going to kill

yourself what you do say is I’m sorry

you’re feeling so bad how can I help

we’ll get through this together

let’s keep you safe a lot of people

think about killing yourself

adults and kids most of them never tried

but some of them do so if your kid says

I’d be better off dead I can’t live with

us I’m gonna kill myself take her

seriously find someone she can talk to

about it someone who knows how to help

sometimes kids want to kill themselves

because something happened a breakup a

failure but sometimes it goes deeper and

it’s not going to go away by itself get

some help

talk to your doctor or a counselor at

school or your minister

but don’t just let it drop and make sure

that your kid always has someone to turn

to someone he trusts

make a list together write back three

four five names put a suicide hotline

number on there too haven’t keep that

list in his wallet so he always knows

where to turn make sure your home is

safe if you have pills, she could use to

hurt herself lock them up if you have a

gun don’t just lock it up get it out of

the house the bullets – and one more

thing if you think your kid might be

about to hurt himself

don’t leave him alone take him to the

emergency room call 9-1-1 if you have to

we all have our ups and downs but

sometimes it’s more than that if you

think something’s wrong the only way to

find out is to ask straight-out are

you thinking about killing yourself

don’t wait until your shirt trust your

gut because it never hurts – and it can

make a big difference all the difference

in your kid’s life