At 7:00 this morning, a body was found by my home. It was a child (no age given yet, we are assuming teen) who had hung themselves from a tree. The body was found in a wooded area known to the local kids as a hang out. Another child (a boy in his teens) found the body. This isn’t the first suicide in my little community. Five years ago, a man down the road held his family hostage, only later to shoot himself. The family still lives in the house. The two isn’t even all of them. Several have occurred on my block alone in the last couple years, many involving teens.
Now I don’t know all the stories, I just know that I find myself surrounded by horrible deaths. Regardless, after this morning, pay attention to your kids. Ask them about their day. Be open for them to talk to you about anything and everything. Have a ‘safe’ room in your house where they can talk to you about anything without having a screaming and yelling match. I’ve only been out of school for about 7 years, kids these days are dealing with things even I had no clue about.
Kids need you to be there for them. Whether they want to talk about the pressures of sex, the pain of bullying, how upset they are after Mom & Dad fight… I’m usually not the first one to jump up and say that I’d be there for SD, but if it came down to her problem vs. her life, I’d be there. No child should feel their only way ‘out’ is death.
I never thought in a million years that this would happen this close to home, let alone in my backyard…or that I would see a child in that position. My day was changed at 7AM after seeing a sneaker on the foot of a child, hanging 2-3 feet off the ground. I don’t know if I know this kid or not yet, but regardless it brings me to tears.
Listen to kids, they’ll tell you a lot if you are just open to them. Pay attention to their actions, so that maybe if that kid is feeling this is their way out, you can stop it before you find yourself staring at the sneakers of a dead child wondering what the hell could I have done?

I find myself wondering if the dogs barking last night were trying to tell someone...If the reason that I was up until 12:30 wandering around the house was because I felt something wasn't right...If I would've stared out the living room window like I usually do on nights I can't sleep, would I have seen this child? Been able to holler out "what are you doing? I'm calling the cops!" would that have stopped it? I feel guilt for what may be a total stranger... I don't know why, but I do. All I can say now though is that my thoughts are with the child's family and friends, and with the poor boy who happened upon the body.