http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517470,00.html I did not click on this article to begin with as I assumed it was the same child I had posted about a couple days ago. But then I clicked anyway this evening and it is another suicide of a different 11 yr old boy. I know most suicides do not hit the news as I have been told there are many where we live and I have never seen any in the news.
I was just about to post the link to this too, after seeing it on the news tonight. Here's one of the newspaper articles about it: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/dekalb/stories/2009/04/21/bully_dunaire_elementary.html I am just so incredibly sad about these stories. It just hits too close to home, having an 11 y.o. boy who was bullied in school. PTL we brought him home. My heart goes out to the families, and good for them for taking legal action. DH said I should forward these two stories to the administrator of my son's private school and say, "See? This is what can happen when you DO NOTHING about bullying!"
I don't think the schools care. I think they just blow this off and excuse themselves by saying that something was clearly wrong with the child..rather than that the child was being abused while in their care.
Was the boy on psych drugs? Suicide is a harsh step, and if you really research the cases, there are many child suicides as the result of antidepressants. Recently a 7-year old hung himself as a result of being on antidepressants. They are not meant for children, it even says in the warnings "may increase thoughts of suicide." That would be my question about it. Very tragic.
This would be just the sort of excuse that the schools would use. I have read recently that these meds do not really cause an increase in suicides. Can you just imagine if child abuse came to investigate abuse in the home and found that it was happening. The child was being emotionally and physically abused and who knows what else. And then the only response the state has is to medicate the child but leave the child in the situation and tell them that they need to cope better. Can you imagine if child abuse in the home were handled in the same way it is being handled in the schools?
This is the very reason why I pulled my kids out. DS was getting off the bus every day in tears because some punk was picking on him. I went to the teacher and she told me to back off and let him grow up. She said being bullied builds character and that he should suck it up. When she said that all I could think of was that guy from VA Tech or those Columbine kids. It's sad you can’t even go to school to learn anymore.
Have you ever been on antidepressants? They do, in fact, sometimes increase thoughts of killing youself. I was very sick with depession after Jeannie was born. I was given Effexor. It did not help, and I planned to slam my car into a cement bridege not far from here. I didn't lose the suicidal thoughts till I got off the Effexor. I can't imagine how a young child would handle those feelings.
I agree 100% with this. I have been on/off antidepressants since I was 18 due to an event that totally changed my life (and not for the better). While on Welbutrin the suicidal thoughts got so bad I actually followed through with them (luckily I was "jumpstarted" back to life). They really and truly do increase the thoughts and make you feel like the world would be better if you were not in it. Now, about the young boy and his sad, sad story... even if he was on antidepressants it would be due to all of the stress placed upon him at school. This is one reason I pulled my children out of ps the first time. My daughter was in tears almost everyday when she would come home. That is no life for a child. Schools supposedly take bullying seriously but then turn their backs when a parent presents a them with a problem. While I will agree that limited "bullying" can end up having a positive effect on the child by building strength when faced with adversity; continued and relentless bullying can and does end up having a very negative effect on the child for years and years. Schools need to take bullying more seriously and actually address the problem right when it is brought to their attention. As far as I am concerned, bullying should be right up there with drugs & alcohol as far as zero-tolerance policies are concerned.
That is so sad. I can't even imagine a child deciding to commit suicide because he doesn't know what else to do. That is terrible. There was a child around the same age that hung himself up in his attic one city over a few years ago. Again it was said that it was due to the bullying that he endured daily. I feel that there is way too much bullying in our schools around here. (And we are said to have the best schools around.) I have all girls and i'm sorry but i've encountered some down right MEAN girls and i'm so glad my children do not have to be subjected to that on a daily basis. My oldest is 10 so I can only imagine what she would have been dealing with in middle school.
