How to explain suicide to a first grader/6 year-old?

Question

My son and I were at the bus stop downtown today, and ambulnces and police cars suddenly surrounded the building we were in front of.

A woman was hanging out of a window on the 8th floor, threatening to jump.

I do not know if she jumped; I rushed my boys away in case she did. My 6-year old has been bombarding me with questions about suicide ever since.

Any tips on how to explain? We have talked about death; he has experienced loss, but I can't seem to find an answer about suicide that satisfies him.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I actually had to deal with a similar situation, except it was more personal.  A friend of mine hung herself when I was 16.  My oldest son(now 7)heard me and my husband talking about the topic.  He asked why she did it.  I told her that she was a very sad girl, and couldn't talk to anyone about her problems.  She was sick, and decided to take her own life.  He was sad about it, and we talked about what we do when we get sad.  And I assured him that sometimes you feel sad, or hurt and that he could always talk to me or daddy.  It really helped him.

Answer 2

Some people develop mental problems when they are really sad -- it is very rare.

Answer 3

she didnt jump, she was talked down.

tell him life is too scary for some people & they are tempted  to try to escape the burdens.

Answer 4

Well, tell him that suicidal is a very bad thing.

That if you do it you will go to h**l.

And that you'll never see mommy again.

Tell him the woman was just upset with her life and she wanted to end it... The wrong way!

Tell him that people who think about suicidal need rehab and therapy.

Tell him that he should never do this or that he'd break mommy's heart... (that's you!)

Don't tell him any ways how to do it..

Maybe he'd get the wrong  idea and try.

Answer 5

i'd just explain it like that i'ts like when you get old and die or something hah..i think just to say wait until they're older and then explain it's kinda hard to to a little kid you don't wanna scare them or anything

Answer 6

just say thats a crazy lady

Answer 7

just tell him when he's older he'll understand. u don't want him having nightmares about this.

Answer 8

DON'T underestimate what is going through your child's mind. We all joke about “kids say the darndest things” but even with a topic like this you never know what point of view they are coming from.

When my daughter was 4 she thought killing herself would have been perfectly OK. Sounds crazy right? Well, we tell our kids when you die you go to heaven and it’s a nice place, and all your family will be there. If a family member dies we say we will see them in heaven.  My daughter thought “why wait?” To her if it was such a nice place why didn’t we all just “go to sleep and not wake up” at this current point in time!  In a child’s eyes it’s a perfectly valid point!

I would tell your boys the truth. That the poor lady was just disturbed and couldn’t find a better way to fix her problem.  Make sure they get all their questions answered.  Some people get sick and catch a cold and some people have confusing things happen to their life and their mind gets sick for a little bit.

Answer 9

just tell him the truth just in a kid way hes gonna need to know eventually anyways

Answer 10

well you can explain it to him lightley like

"swetie she had problems and sometimes peolple have problems witch cause them to do crazy things and ill tell you when you are older"

Answer 11

I like Angel's answer.

Answer 12

explain that some people are very sick and it can make them so sad they don't know how to cope and sometimes threaten to hurt themselves as a way to ask for help.

Answer 13

Oh, my gosh. I'm scared of that! Way too scared!

Suicide is a thing that you kill yourself, And it's really bad and death, in real life, you will be burned in ashes and you're a ghost? That you should never do it. It's really bad, you are missing your friends, parents and blablabla.

Answer 14

This question really hit home to me.  While my husband I were going through a rough divorce I caught my 6 year old trying to drink poison because she said she wanted to go away and never come back.  This really blew me away since I did not even know she knew of or could think of such a thing.  She ended up in a hospital for 3 weeks but most of the time was the children's type of mental institute, she was the youngest one in there.  It was a very traumatic time for me and I can't speak of it anymore, it is hard.

Answer to this question is talk to her how you would want someone to explain it to you at that age but don't ignore her curiosity to figure out on her own.

Answer 15

Just explain that sometimes people get so sad they want to end their life, which is suicide. And that most of the time these people need help from doctors or medicine to help control their sadness. It does not happen to everyone just some. Very hard issue for such a young age, but I am glad you are being honest about it and not making up some story to sugar coat it.

Answer 16

tell the truth

Answer 17

For some reason kids this age are fascinated with death and God. Don't be surprised that his questions continue no matter how many times you answer him but answer him honestly and in terms he can understand, putting him off til later only makes them ask that many more questions, this also applies to s*x questions . . .I never had a problem with my kids as long as I was honest with them on any subject they choose to talk about

Answer 18

Yes she is a crazy lady because she is hanging out of window. What would you call this lady?  If she was rescued, she's probably in a mental institute.

Go to the library and find a book about it, and don't ask strangers about such a delicate topic.

Answer 19

when someone is so sad because of something really bad happening in their life they want to runaway from it but they don't sit and think about what to do to make their life better so they try to kill themselves and those people need someone to help them get a happier life.

hope that helps i thought it would be ok to say killed because you already talked to him about death if not reword it anyway you feel is best ^_^

Answer 20

tell them the truth, and tell them that its not good and stuff. think like a kid, you dnt wnt your parents telling you the wrong thing.

Answer 21

tell him this: "sometimes people are unhappy with their lives or they feel they are not needed. or simply becuase they want to make someone feel bad. so they kill themesleves. it is illeagel to try it. suicide is dumb though because they are only thinking of thmesleves and not how friends and familys will feel. so they do it. rmeber you only have one life so if you kill yourslef theres no getting it back. and you will go to h**l. understand?" hope that helps! good luck!

Answer 22

Yeah, I would say that she was a crazy lady.  I wouldn't even go into the entire suicide, trying to end her life.  I would say she was crazy and everyone was trying to help her.

Answer 23

Regardless of the age of the child, it is always important to offer simple, truthful explanations about the cause of the death. Accurate information is crucial to the grieving process, and without the facts children will have difficulty with the first task of mourning, accepting the reality of the death as identified by the leading authority on grief.

words to use

"The act of killing yourself so that your body won’t work anymore. People who kill themselves often do so because they feel there is no other way to solve their problems or to end the pain they are feeling. Sometimes they feel hopeless that things will never get better and that life is not worth

living. But, there is always another answer. "