So tragic, so sad. More knowledgeable folks than I have given some of the reasons children can be so stressed, so insecure that they want to kill themselves. Children also kill themselves because they are being bullied, and have not developed the skills to cope. Feelings of being unloved, not good enough, a disappointment, or a constant state of fear because of family pressure or peer threats can also lead to suicidal thoughts in very young children.
When I was a child, I remember repeatedly wishing that I would just die. Maybe then my parents would be sorry that they had hit me, called me names, thrown things at me, told me they hated me and wished I'd never been born. I didn't really believe they'd be sorry. I just wistfully wondered if they would be. I didn't commit suicide, obviously, but I might have tried if I'd actually known how to do it at that age. I'd never heard about people hanging themselves, or taking sleeping pills. Illegal drugs really weren't available back then. The only way I knew how to die was to run in front of a car or to jump off a really tall building (ha! In the SoCal suburbs, where a two-story house is considered a highrise!)... but I was too scared that either way would really hurt. At that age I didn't realize that if I was dead, I wouldn't be in pain. Besides, I'm not even certain I realized back then that death really was permanent. Children do not understand reality the way adults do.
Now the above paragraph is not written by a logical adult. It's written from the perspective of an unhappy, unloved little girl whose brain had not yet evolved enough to understand that my parents' unacceptable behavior was not my fault. When I hear about such a young child crying out for help, then following through it breaks my heart. Kids today, with television and computer games showing easy death followed by a reload-replay, know more ways to die than I did even as a high school senior. Elementary school kids can get access to illegal drugs, guns, rope, and know what to do with them. I wish we lived in a society where people looked out for others instead of rushing past them toward their own lives. I wish we had schools that were well funded and staffed with professionals who could recognize the symptoms of lonely, bullied, and abused children, and had the ability to step in to help. I wish there was a test that anyone wanting to become a parent had to pass before they were allowed to conceive. I wish the world was perfect. But the world is now and always has been a tragic place to live. I hope that poor child is at peace now.
