6 year old wants to die

[LyraBelaqua]

My son is 6, 7 in November. I find him quite a challenge but love him dearly. We have similar personalities and clash a lot, resulting in arguments (I argue back as he drives me to the end of my tether) and tears on both parts usually, I’m trying to address this as I know I’m not helping matters. I think he has low self esteem and just recently (last few months) he has been saying he wants to die, to kill himself, it’s the only way to end this. He says he’s so stupid and just wants this to end. It’s very upsetting and I don’t know if this is something I should worry about or if it’s normal and a cry for attention (my mum thinks it’s attention thing). How can I make things better for him? Thanks for any advice.

I would take him to your gp. 7 years old can experience depression and anxiety so he may benefit from counselling which they can refer him for. Have you spoke to his school to see if they have any issues with his behaviour or if there are any problems with other children etc? Does he have friends?

He has lots of friends and no known problems at school. His behaviour was not great in his reception year but has been really good in year 1 and I never have trouble getting him there. Thanks for your reply.

Maybe he experience depression. Even small kids can also experience that. Consult your gp about your concern.

Has he heard this or picked this up from someone? IRL or on TV? My DS1 has anxiety and went through a phase of saying he wants to die. I think ge picked it up from TV. He gets very frustrated with DS2 and struggles to express his emotions properly. It's very worrying and I felt the need to keep a close eye on him so casually followed hom around the house. Thankfully it was very short lived and he has not repeated it again since. We are working on talking about emotions and at ways of releasing anger and frustration through other channels.

I feel for you my daughter who just turned 7 is the same. She's being assessed for autism/Asperger's at the mo and is not great at socialising in school so the kids tell her she's weird, they hate her and to go away. She literally came out of school every day for 2 months telling me everybody hates her and she wants to die I was so close so just quitting my job and home schooling her. But she's excited about starting year 3 (we will see how long that lasts)