5 year old suicidal? Wwyd?

[namechanged100]

Or was it just a flippant comment?

My child informed me casually today that their friend "wants to kill themselves"

Without making too big a deal I asked my child what they thought it meant and mine does have some understanding of what death means

Do I speak to mum? Teachers? Butt out and was probably just flippant comment?

Speak to the school not the parents. What if the child said it because he heard a parent saying they wanted to kill themselves maybe during an argument or something. The parents would them tell the child not to talk about such things. You just don't know so best to speak to safeguarding at school.

My kids have said this when they were little when they were embarrassed at something they had done.

My DS said to me in a solemn voice once when he was 5 (and you are never prepared for this kind of question!) that he want's to kill himself.
I froze but felt that I couldn't leave it just like that and asked him in a calm voice: " So DS why do you want to kill yourself?" feeling I will faint in a minute.
He answered me "I want to kill myself because I want to see how God looks like!"

He is still very curious mind and is doing Philosophy for A-Levels

antimatter

OP, unless the teacher is incompetent, s/he will say, with a serious face, "ooh, thank you for letting me know" in a "that's the end of the conversation" kind of way.

that's it.
that's your one job. say one sentence to the teacher. it doesn't matter whether you use the word "safeguarding" or not (would not be necessary at our primary).

job done.

the only way you can screw this up is to discuss it on mumsnet and not tell teacher. easy!

Please report it to the school and whatever you do DON'T mention it to the parent.

It's likely to be a fuss over nothing, but what if the parent was the cause of the child feeling like they do?

I couldn’t ignore it.

I wouldn’t expect such a young child to be saying it flippantly although I know 5 year olds can say some weird stuff.

It may be nothing, it may be a very unhappy child. You have no way of knowing, but by telling the teacher who sees the child every day, they will have a bigger bit of the picture than you do.

Contact safeguarding at school, or ring nspcc. Don't ignore it, it may be nothing or part of a bigger picture, you can't know which but they can find out, without upsetting anyone needlessly.

this is awful don't ignore it please do you know the parents?