I have an 8-year-old with behavioral issues. Several times he has said he wants to drown himself. What do I do?<\/p>\n\t
Assuming that the statements are not hyperbole, such as indicating embarrassment by saying “I wish I were dead,” then you have a problem on your hand that cannot be ignored. It is not typical for a child to express suicidal thoughts. Something is majorly wrong and you need to seek help immediately.<\/p>\n
You stated that your child has behavioral problems, but without details, it is impossible to recommend a course of action. What I’m most concerned about is the possibility that he has been placed on an SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor), such as Paxil, Zoloft, or Prozac. These products are anti-depressants and are sometimes given in an attempt to stabilize moods. Except for Prozac, they are NOT approved by the FDA for use with children under 18. One of the reasons for the lack of approval is the use of these products has been linked to increased suicidal thoughts in children — doubling the rate from 2% to 4%.<\/p>\n
Too often, I have been finding parents willing to use drugs to compensate for poor child-rearing practices. There are children with psychological problems that might require drugs, but the vast majority of cases can be handled with proper parenting techniques. You might have to work harder at it than your neighbor down the street, but it can be done and it generally has better long-term results because the child learns to manage himself without reliance on drugs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I have an 8-year-old with behavioral issues. Several times he has said he wants to drown himself. What do I do? Answer: Assuming that the statements are not hyperbole, such as indicating embarrassment by saying “I wish I were dead,” then you have a problem on your hand that cannot be ignored. It is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1028,1032],"tags":[665,29,39],"class_list":["post-13864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parenting","category-preteen","tag-child-rearing","tag-parenting","tag-suicide"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59452,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-normal-for-an-eight-year-old-boy-to-be-touching-himself\/","url_meta":{"origin":13864,"position":0},"title":"Is it normal for an eight-year-old boy to be touching himself?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have custody of an 8-year-old boy. During the first six years of his life, he was exposed to drugs, sex, filthy language, compulsive lying, and a lot of antisocial behavior from his mother and other adults in his life. He frequently puts his hands down his pants out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Childhood"","block_context":{"text":"Childhood","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/parenting\/childhood\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13855,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-present-an-attractive-meal-for-a-five-year-old-child\/","url_meta":{"origin":13864,"position":1},"title":"How do you present an attractive meal for a five-year-old child?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do you present an attractive meal for a five-year-old child? Answer: My first thought was why would a parent want to cater to the whims of a child? Is it for a special occasion? Or is the child ill and not eating well? Or are you as the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Childhood"","block_context":{"text":"Childhood","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/parenting\/childhood\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15077,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-14-year-old-has-become-rude-a-poor-student-and-mean-to-his-younger-brother-what-do-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":13864,"position":2},"title":"My 14-year-old has become rude, a poor student, and mean to his younger brother. What do I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a fourteen-year-old son. In the past year, he has become very verbally rude. He is not doing well in school. He cannot get along with his little brother, who is seven. He used to be so sweet and loving and now I'm so worried about him. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adolescence"","block_context":{"text":"Adolescence","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/parenting\/adolescence\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13852,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-i-do-the-right-thing-by-spanking-my-child-for-pushing-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":13864,"position":3},"title":"Did I do the right thing by spanking my child for pushing me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question. My youngest son is 4 years old. Yesterday he pushed me and said some bad words. I was upset and I asked him to apologize, but\u00a0he didn't. Today his misbehavior returned. He did the same thing. I\u00a0took him to his room, but he\u00a0yelled, so I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Childhood"","block_context":{"text":"Childhood","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/parenting\/childhood\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19497,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-fifteen-year-old-is-staying-out-to-all-hours-of-the-night-what-do-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":13864,"position":4},"title":"My fifteen-year-old is staying out to all hours of the night. What do I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The reason I type this question is that I have a 15-year-old son. He has been acting up over the last 2 to 3 months. He has always been a well-behaved lad. But over the last few months, he has been getting in with the wrong crowd at his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41362,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/our-son-is-getting-into-trouble-and-we-dont-what-else-to-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":13864,"position":5},"title":"Our son is getting into trouble and we don’t what else to do","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My 17-year-old son has some issues. My wife and I have raised him in the church since he was a baby. We thought we taught him well until he became 15. At 15, he seemed to forget everything that we taught him. He secretly became involved with a 23-year-old\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13864\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}