Suicide...How do you explain to children?

[lazy daisy]

My son committed suicide nearly 6 years ago. He left behind a 2 1/2 year old son. He understands his daddy is dead and that he is not going to come back. He says his daddy is now the brightest star in the sky.

My dilema is.

1) How do we explain what suicide is?

2)Does he need to know by what method?

3)Is there a "best" age to explain?

[**Clem**]

Hi Daisy, I think that everyone gave brilliant answers to your very difficult problem but can I suggest that you consider the full implications of telling your grandson that it was a 'momentary stupid act'. No offence to sara but when it happened to people extremely close to me, they said that thinking that it was an impulsive decision that he would have regretted or a cry for help gone wrong was the worst thing they could imagine. They could take the tiniest bit of comfort from knowing it something he really wanted to do. Obviously I don't know the details surrounding the tragic loss of your son but I just wanted to give you another perspective. Again, my love goes out to both of you x

[shiznit]

First of all, I am sorry to hear of your loss.


My Favourite Uncle, who I loved dearly commited suicide about 24 years ago, I was about 8 at the time.

Althought I knew when I was told what had happened, it was many years later until I fully understood what had happened.

My Uncle Jack never left a note or any kind of indication why he took his own life.

There is no right or wrong way to tell a young person about suicide, only time will tell. Im sure with your guidance the happy memories of a lost soul will live on.

Suicide is such a difficult subject to cover, people who atempt it, wether they succseed or not are pretty desperate, it is their only way out. Instead of condeming them we should be asking why

Finally, no!. There will never be an age when it is ok to explain, the human mind is too too complicated