I want to share a recent event in my life that made me very proud of my son, not a professional or academic achievement but something that can affect all of us with children.

Tuesday I pick my son up at his school from a cross country meet (8th grade) and he tells me one of his teammates on the bus told him he wants to kill himself because he was being relentlessly picked on by other kids ( I won’t mention what sport the antagonists play, but you know). We talked about suicide on the drive home and how it is a permanent solution to temporary problems and life has its ups and downs he says he understands, and says his teammate said he was just joking around, but he is really worried about his teammate if he didn’t do something.

So we get home and I call the parents of his teammate and talk to his mom – she was almost matter of fact and nonchalant she said he was having a hard time at school this year, all kids go through this type of thing and mentions that me and my son should keep this “professional”. I was floored that someone would act like this concerning (their) child suicide. Not 10 minutes later the dad calls me – totally different scenario he dives in head first and is worried sick and not only is he concerned about his son but is concerned with my son for having this laid on his shoulders, and we discussed a course of action with the parents, school and team.

Got a call from the principal this morning and they are awarding my son the schools gold medal for exemplary leadership in sports and academics, he is no gold medal scholar or athlete. Yes my son is bit outspoken and we argue as with most parents and teenagers not living the typical TV family scenario, but he may have saved someone’s life (not mentioned in his citation) and that is worth more than any gold medal.

Suicide is a tough subject to breach, especially with kids/teenagers (and if you’re like me, you never really understood why someone would take their own life) but if you aren’t talking about it with them the alternative can be catastrophic.

Right on bro. You should be proud. Teenage suicides are rampant these days. Just had a kid do it here and he was a friend of my sons. No one saw it coming either. Sad deal and there is no replay button to push. It's devastating on the parents and siblings as well as the friends. I honestly don't know what drives these kids to it. But as we all know, kids are damn cruel and relentless. We all had the same thing but I would jack the fuck out of them and that was normally all it took. We didn't get suspended for jacking some ass hole up back then either.

Glad your kid helped him out, hopefully it worked.

Kid comes from good stock. You taught him well.

That's awesome baron, you've brought up a great young man right there.

Yep that is definitely something to be proud of! So glad the dad had some sense.
It seams to be happening a lot now. It's been a little over a year a friend I've been knowing since the 4th grade committed suicide. He played music and everyday I heard a song that reminds me of him.

Just another reason to be proud of my son, if your state doesn't have a High School trap/skeet league you are really missing out on something great.

Shooting sports seem to generate a diffrent "vibe" than the other sports we where involved with

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