a child's cry for help

GoldenRivet · 02-22-16, 06:15 PM

today, i picked up my step daughter from after school care and while she was organizing her book bag and getting things packed up to leave the campus she waded up a piece of notebook paper, handed it to me and asked if i could throw it away. i saw drawing and text on the crumpled up paper and thought it might be a love note or a bad grade she didnt want to come to light.

i asked her, "what is this?" as i un-crumpled the paper. "its something my friend gave to me" she continued with gathering her things

i looked it over and it appeared to be a frame by frame comic type cartoon called "Mike's life." The cartoon drawn in stick figure shows a woman laying in a bed, and a doctor holding a baby. the woman says "Kill it" and the doctor says "we can adopt it" the frames progress indicating that the baby is "too ugly and stupid to adopt" the frames further progress to show the kid asking a girl to be his friend to which she replies with something to the effect of "you're gross go away"

later, the boy is shown in his bedroom with tears raining out, he creates a noose, and hangs himself with tears still flowing out. in the next frame he is no longer crying and a large amount of red blood is seen flowing from his neck while there is knocking at the door.

i asked is "mike" the name of the kid that made this and gave it to you? she said that it was and asked me again to trash it. I wadded it up and put it in my pocket while she was not looking.

I stopped by my wife's work on the way home. given that i am not home 75% of the year i am not sure who these kids are or their parents or what their situations are. certainly my wife is the expert on the social settings of my step daughters school. i explained the situation to my wife and gave her the paper, we are all three going to discuss it when she gets home momentarily.

this bothered me a lot. Am i over reacting? i dont have a lot of experience with kids other than what i have gained over the past few years... but it would be incredibly reckless and irresponsible IMHO not to at least bring this to his teacher's attention... or find out who his parents are and make them aware.

we are going to figure out what to do this evening

very sad situation, I feel it is urgent to say or do something though

02-22-16, 06:15 PM	#1
GoldenRivet Subsim Aviator Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 8,726 Downloads: 146 Uploads: 0	a child's cry for help today, i picked up my step daughter from after school care and while she was organizing her book bag and getting things packed up to leave the campus she waded up a piece of notebook paper, handed it to me and asked if i could throw it away. i saw drawing and text on the crumpled up paper and thought it might be a love note or a bad grade she didnt want to come to light. i asked her, "what is this?" as i un-crumpled the paper. "its something my friend gave to me" she continued with gathering her things i looked it over and it appeared to be a frame by frame comic type cartoon called "Mike's life." The cartoon drawn in stick figure shows a woman laying in a bed, and a doctor holding a baby. the woman says "Kill it" and the doctor says "we can adopt it" the frames progress indicating that the baby is "too ugly and stupid to adopt" the frames further progress to show the kid asking a girl to be his friend to which she replies with something to the effect of "you're gross go away" later, the boy is shown in his bedroom with tears raining out, he creates a noose, and hangs himself with tears still flowing out. in the next frame he is no longer crying and a large amount of red blood is seen flowing from his neck while there is knocking at the door. i asked is "mike" the name of the kid that made this and gave it to you? she said that it was and asked me again to trash it. I wadded it up and put it in my pocket while she was not looking. I stopped by my wife's work on the way home. given that i am not home 75% of the year i am not sure who these kids are or their parents or what their situations are. certainly my wife is the expert on the social settings of my step daughters school. i explained the situation to my wife and gave her the paper, we are all three going to discuss it when she gets home momentarily. this bothered me a lot. Am i over reacting? i dont have a lot of experience with kids other than what i have gained over the past few years... but it would be incredibly reckless and irresponsible IMHO not to at least bring this to his teacher's attention... or find out who his parents are and make them aware. we are going to figure out what to do this evening very sad situation, I feel it is urgent to say or do something though __________________