Nice reasoning . . . because something terrible has happened somewhere else you shouldn't worry about something less terrible happening nearby? You've been very concerned with parental responsibility in this thread, going so far as to say people should be sterilised until they can demonstrate the potential for it. The OP asks a question about responsible parenting and caring for her child and your response is, "whatever, it's nothing compared to Sierre Leone".

..what would a 6 year old understand about mental illness? Absolutely nothing. All you do is possibly leave a bigger inprint in a childs live by creating more commotion.

The child is dead and won't come to school anymore because it was killed by his unstable father. How terrible is that for a fellow classmate other than it is sad that his friend won't come to school anymore and that something bad has happened.

OK. At this point I'm going to stop feeding the troll.

It is NOT just "something bad", but death. Something, people at that age believe is reserved for the "antiques" of above 30 . And 6years old can well understand the difference between a classmate who relocated with his family to somewhere else and so "won't come to school anymore" and a classmate who died.

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When explaining mental illness to a 6 year old you do NOT use that term. What term you use depends on the personality of the boy etc. This is where the specialists of the psychiatrist service come into play, as they know the right expressions to be used. If having to explain complex things to children you of course have to use your brains. You have to forget most of your usual expressions. At the other hand realize that 6 years olds no longer are babies. And quite many 5 or 6 years olds know what deaths is. And most of all realize that the "inprint" already is here. "More commotion" hardly is possible. These children know how "Bonstetten" is written and can see that it now has been on all the newspapers for some time, and can here that the name of their village is mentioned on TV. Mental illness is if "you have a bird in your head" !

Yeah female circumsision is mutilation because that takes away her ability to enjoy sex. It's totally different from male circumsision.

That's good, yes someone needs to help them to understand and process what has happened.

I think circumsizing older boys is cruel, because they are big enough to know what's happeneing. But circumsizing babies is bad too because they don't use anestesia. Poor little things. I couldn't take having my baby being cut like that. Some people do it for sanitary reasons, I just don't know if I can take my baby being subject to that pain.

LOL! It's okay that's just how conversations shift sometimes.

But how are all of those war victim kids doing mentally and pschologically as a reasult of seeing those things? The point is to tell the child in a way in which he's not traumatized.

Because you are talking about news that will change a poor kid's whole world view, that someone his age, a kid like him can die, and that someone's parent is capable of killing them. Those are heavy things for innocent little kids. And little kids don't understand mental illness so they won't be able to fully understand why a good kid who was his friend was killed by his dad someone who is supposed to love him.

LOL!!!

I stopped reading after this sentence.

Cheers,
Nick

Not totally different: both involve cutting bits off people without their consent.

There's already a thread for that, though... let's get this one back on topic now...

Hi,

Sorry to hear about what must be quite a traumatic experience for your son. Also, it is a shame that your wish to discuss the situation in an intelligent manner in this thread has been hijacked by some ridiculous, ignorant and sanctimonious comments which only serve to dilute the usefulness of the EF.

I can remember when I was 6 years old my grandfather died after a long illness and while I understood the idea of dying I didn't really take it in as a sad event - and could not understand why my mum was weeping so much.

The only experiences I have of a classmate dying is in the early first year at secondary school when a girl in my class died of leukaemia - again after a long illness - and in the 6th form when someone in the lower 6th died of cancer. I wasn't so close to either of them so I didn't really feel a major sense of grief at either.

The death of a child is always tragic - that the child was murdered at the hands of the father only increases that level of tragedy.

I think the best you can do is explain the situation to your son as best you can, and to be there for him if he gets upset about it - hopefully the school will make use of professional counsellors to help the kids come to terms with the situation.

Cheers,
Nick

I'd be interested to know if you'd still say the same when you have some....

I doubt it.

Well, some religious regulations make it mandatory only to have it done at age 9 to 11 .


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The death of a child is always tragic - that the child was murdered at the hands of the father only increases that level of tragedy.

I think the best you can do is explain the situation to your son as best you can, and to be there for him if he gets upset about it - hopefully the school will make use of professional counsellors to help the kids come to terms with the situation.

Cheers,
Nick[/QUOTE]

To explain carefully what is difficult to understand for everybody is the necessary thing to do.

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..alright people, suit your damn self. Call all the care teams and psychologist and Sigmund Freuds to the school and have a sit down...death is a natural event. Yes the child died an unatural death but it died nevertheless (which is very sad as I had class mates die as well). Children have their own way of dealing with things and we as adults should only support them. However, bringing in so much attention underlines the issue and makes this whole event more tragic for a 6 year old child. Me not having children doesn't have anything to do with my ability to comment on this topic, as I've worked closely with children before. Don't label this comment as "oh, it's lost_inbroad's brain fart"..but I rather urge you to look at the tragedy from the eye of a 6 year old. They don't understand big issues as yet...and their sadness is solely because their buddy from school is not coming anymore; whereas, we as adults rather emphasize the tragedy of the event. If I had a child, I would answer his/her question in a simple manner and explain to them that death isa natural process and that people do very bad things sometimes.

is the father one of Scientology?? arnt they only in states?????