5 Things that Happen When Children Commit Suicide

About 5 weeks ago a 13-year-old boy committed suicide in Japn. A 12-year-old girl followed suit in Tokyo.

From 1999-2005 Japan lost far too many children to suicide – 100-150 each year. Even one child lost to suicide is one too many.

What happens when children kill themselves.

1. The media sensationalize the story and then more people commit suicide. Since the 13-year-old Fukuoka boy, at least 12 more teenagers have killed themselves.

2. Other children begin to think suicide is the way out for them as well – In the first three weeks of November, Japan’s education ministry has received 36 letters from youngsters threatening to kill themselves.

3. People/parents/administrators/teachers start asking why? Why? Why? Many children in Japan call it permanently quits because they can’t tolerate being bullied. In 2005 there were 20,143 bullying cases reported by school kids in Japan.

4. Parents who have lost kids take matters into their own hands – one family has spoken to some 240 schools in Japan (63 this year) about losing their 15-year-old girl.

5. When children hear the first hand account of a mother and father who have lost a child – A mother described how "she felt completely numb the day Kasumi died and how she began having thoughts of killing herself so she could be with her daughter. As she spoke about how she and Shinichiro said together, ‘Thank you for being born to us,’ during the funeral and kissed their daughter goodbye, students began to cry."

Perhaps if more students could know a parents love, and if more students could cry when they hear of a kiss…more students will realize that death is not an answer.

What do you think?