Recent suicides at Yale College

Dustyfeathers
Tue, 08 Nov 2016 20:30:45 +0000

It’s really up to the families to decide what they want to disclose.

Maybe it’s better to discuss the pressure the kids may have felt that led to their deaths. Elsewhere on this forum, there’s a thread about the jump in suicide rates among middle school kids. Still elsewhere, parents say that they place their kids on anti-anxiety meds and then in the same post on this Forum to see how they, the parents, should handle the kids dropped senior grades. Maybe the parents are the ones who need the chill pill and to realize that YHStanfordPrinceton and the like don’t equal happiness?

Maybe it’s time for parents to calm the heck down and let their kids be.

Here’s a thought: Maybe let the kids mess up a few grades. Maybe let them not do well in high school. What’s the downside again?

I’ll tell you what it is because that’s what we are doing right now: There is no downside. So far our child is enjoying – actually enjoying – doing what he likes. Joy has returned to his life now that he’s out of school. He’s exploring things that actually interest him.

Will he be a bum the rest of his life? I don’t think so. Time will tell, but he’s got a family behind him who can help him understand how to navigate the world once he decides his direction. College is out there waiting for him. He will get fine college someday, if he wants.

And that’s the key: If HE wants, not if his mom and dad want. He will be invested in his progress more fully if and when he decides to go back to college.

There are numerous amazing colleges that look for and welcome older students. He’s lost zero opportunities. And is probably in the process of creating additional ones for himself, ones that make him happy.