March 25, 2010
What to say
An 8th grader at C-man's school committed suicide this week. We have no idea what to say to C-man, as they're telling the whole school today. Not that I think the kindergarten class is going to be a part of that, but he goes to extended care with older kids. And this boy has a sister in a younger grade. And it's a pretty small Catholic school. And the 8th graders are their field trip buddies. Ugh... it just breaks my heart.
So our plan with C-man is to do nothing until he asks questions, which I'm sure will be tonight after extended care. I hate to not prepare him, but at the same time, how much can we really lay on a 5 year old?
On a related note, I was in the library talking to some other parents, and they kept expressing what a good family it is. How involved the parents have been. How happy the parents are together. And I had to stop them and say, "Mental illness knows no age or social structure or education level. It's not about the family." Because while I know everyone is trying to make sense of it, fit it in to their own lives because it happened to "one of our own", it's not about ANY of those other things. And that family needs to understand that. Hopefully, some day they will...
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4 comments:
Mingle*****
That is very sad. This person was just starting his life.
You have to wonder about the process that went into solving a temporary problem with a permanent solution.
8th grade, that's just so young. And, 5 yrs old is way too young to have to try to process what happened. I think your approach is a good one.
Oh, how sad! How very sad.
I hope this is a gentle process with C-man. He's so precious and young to have to deal with this.
So very sad, indeed. Your approach sounds wise. The schoolmates will no doubt be discussing it for a while. It will be a confusing time for many.
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