Would you ask your child to sign a no-suicide pact?
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AC360°
An 8 year-old-boy in Texas tried to commit suicide after his teacher did nothing about the bad bullying he faced every day. The school’s response: have him sign a ‘no suicide’ agreement. Apparently this is standard procedure in this particular school district. Any student who tries to harm him/herself has to sign it. This kid, however, is in second-grade and is dyslexic.
Would you ask your child to sign a no-suicide pact? We want to hear from you. Post your comments below.
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That's like blaming the kid that it's his fault that he wanted to commit suicide. Sign or not, the child is still going to undergo more bullying unless the TEACHERS and SCHOOL do something about it. Isn't that what teachers are there for? To educate our children and make sure it's a safe environment?
Although I appreciate the effort, it's not enough. How about the teachers sign a "I will keep my eyes open to bullying and promptly respond" pact and all children sign a zero tolerance no-bullying pact!!! The school/ teachers should be held responsible for idly sitting by and allowing this boy to be bullied for so long and the bullys need to be dealt strong consequences. There needs to be a zero tolerance policy in effect. For an 8 year old child to be so helpless that he attempts to take his life is unforgivable. The teachers who ignored it should suffer consequences and the bullies thrown out of the school and forced into therapy to deal with their issues.
This is ridiculous. Putting your name on a piece of paper does not ensure that you will not suffer from severe depression, nor does it ensure that you will not try to harm yourself again. Even if this child wasn't extremely young of suffering from dyslexia, signing a pact would mean nothing. Signing a sheet of paper swearing not to kill yourself probably works just as well as signing a sheet of paper swearing not to have sex until you're married...which is not at all.
I have an idea, why doesn't the school make all of the bullies in this child's class sign a no-bullying pact? Or crack down on their policies? Making this kid sign paper is taking the easy way out. How many incidents like Columbine, or children have to hurt themselves, before schools start to figure out that they need to solved the problem of bullying, and fast?
Asking an eight year old child to sign a no-suicide agreement is about the most stupidest thing I have heard. I really do not know what their reasoning is in asking a eight year-old child to do such a thing. Do they really think this will help the child from committing suicide? The school needs to concentrate on solving their bulling problem. The only signing that should be done would be to have the parents sign a agreement for the child to see a psychiatrist. When a child is in such a state that he is about to commit suicide, I don't think he would stop and say to himself, "I can't do this because I signed an agreement".
I think no-suicide pacs between a parent and a child work only in special circumstances and only if other treatment coinsides with it. I am 21 and have had a no-suicde pac with my mother for the last 5 years or so- since my first suicide attempt. Sometimes having the pac has helped me get through the hard times, at other times it hasn't... it has been treatment/ thearpy for my issues that have really been key- but on a day that I can see no hope, and want nothing more than to disapear from the world, I think of the promise I made to my mother, and that gets me through.
The schools answer to bullying is a "no suicide agreement"? This must have been the brainchild of an attorney. "Well, you can't sue the school for not protecting your child and possibly contributing to their death because we have a signed no suicide agreement." What a shallow answer to a serious problem.
Yes. i would. Professional couselors and therapists do this often with clients. No different than the contract for no drinking, drugs, sex.
This needs to be part of an on-going interactive relationship, not an isolated event. Kids need to be able to talk about the issues they face. Me, it would scare the be-jeebers out of me to be 9 to 12 preteen again!