Question
I have a 7 year old son who just happily started second grade. He is extremely bright and normal in every way. No major discipline problems, no unexplained behavior. Sometimes he complains about being fat (I’ve written about this before – he’s a bit chunky but not fat), but not obsessively. Maybe a year or so ago he started occasionally say to me “I’ve lived too long” or “Life feels like a dream to me” completely out of the blue. I passed it off as an immature way of explaining a feeling of déjà vu or something like that. But… yesterday he came home from school with a writing worksheet where he was to fill in sentences starting with things like “I am…”, “I want…”, etc. He had written “I dream to die”, “I try to die” and “I wish to die”. When I (as calmly as possible) asked him to explain he first looked abashed, and then said “I’ve lived too long”. He got extremely frustrated when I asked him to explain a different way because I didn’t understand. He said he didn’t know how else to explain it, and he stormed off to his room. Later he came back out and said he doesn’t like his life. Again I asked for clarification and eventually he told me that his brother talks too much and I ask too many questions. I told him that we all love him and don't want him to die, and left it alone for the rest of the night. I have sent the teacher a note asking her to take a look and give me her opinion but I am wondering if I need to seek counseling. His normal behavior is incongruous with these kind of statements, but there’s always that nagging feeling that the “I’ve lived too long” comments are not quite normal either.
