Shocked and horrified!!

[ayndim]

My 1st grader came home yesterday and told me a classmate almost passed out and she had to help her. When I asked her what happened she said the little girl was choking herself!!! These are 6 and 7 year olds for goodness sakes. I know the little girl and she has an older sister and wonder if that is where she learned it. Of course, I know about the choking game. It was around when I was a teenager. And I knew I would have to talk to my kids one day but not yet. Luckily, my daughter is very smart and loves all things medical. I explained that it can hurt her brain and that people can and do die from it. She is very self-regulating with inappropriate things and I count myself lucky with her. Still, I can't rely on her doing that as some things put their lives at risk. Not a chance I am willing to take.

Anyway, has anyone heard of kids this young doing this? I still find it unbelievable that a child of that age knows about this. Of course, they start teaching about the dangers of drugs early but who would have thought.......

Of course, I have to tell someone. Unfortunately, I don't know the parents very well but I do know that they wouldn't tolerate this. They are as protective and involved as I am with my kids. I have thought of leaving an anynomous (sp?) letter in the child's box, in a sealed envelope. Or going to the teacher and having her let the parents know. I want to keep my daughter out of it, as I don't want her to have problems with this little girl. Of course, I have to do something this am. I couldn't forgive myself if I did nothing or delayed doing something and something terrible happened.

[LydiaNN]

I'm not sure that in this case I would go the route of the anonymous letter. I would probably call them directly, but if you're not comfortable doing that, why not tell the teacher?

[prmenrs, RN]

I would definitely talk to mom directly--this is too dangerous to ignore. And the older kid needs to know how her behavior influences rhe younger child.

And, if this happened @ school, I would talk to the teacher, principal and school nurse. They could get sued if something happened to the kid.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I think you should definitely tell the school. They need to know this is going on so that they can monitor the kids and take steps as needed. Simply talking with the mother would only address the issue with the one child. There may be other children who need to be protected. You can't ignore them. So, the school must be made aware of what's going on ASAP.

I'm happy to read that both your child and the other child are OK.

llg

[tencat]

The teacher definitely needs to know about that. If he/she doesn't find out and something happens, he/she will be liable. It sounds like your daughter is a smart kid who knows how to handle herself.

7 seems so young, but it's never too early to start talking about drugs and sexual matters (age appropriately, of course). I had 12 year old students who were pregnant when I was a teacher......sad and shocking, but reality nonetheless.

[postmortRNhere]

Yes, I think you should address this with both the mother and teacher in the event the parents want to keep this private and never let the school know. Some parents are very ashamed of such things which could interfere with any kind of intervention. As the mother of four ages 12,8,7,6, I can tell you that this is so prevalent that you never know if your kids will try it. I talk and talk to my kids to drive the message into their little brains about many issues, but in the end you just have to "PRAY AND PRAY." What else can you do ??? :uhoh21:

[ayndim]

I did tell the teacher when I dropped my daughter off at school. She is going to talk to the parents, while keeping my daughter's name out of it. She is also going to ask the school nurse to come in and talk to the kids.

It sends shivers down my spine every time I think about a child doing this. I explained to my daughter on the way to school that her brain needs oxygen and that this takes it away. That her brain wouldn't be able to breathe if she did this. And sometimes the brain started breathing again and sometimes it didn't. I let her know that it doesn't matter if it is the first time or the 10th time you did it. You just don't know when your brain won't be able to breathe again. This seemed to be the most age-appropriate explanation, as she equates oxygen to breathing. I also told her that because her brain isn't breathing part of it dies everytime this is done. She would probably understand more but honestly, I don't know the entire physiology behind dying from doing this. Of course, I will be doing my research this weekend.

Thanks for your advice. I didn't think about informing the school. I will make sure to talk to the teacher about it. I am sure the nurse will know what steps to take. She is an actual nurse (RN) with many years of nursing experience.