What Parents Need to Know

About Suicide
What Parents Need To Know About Suicide
Alarming Statistics
● Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for ages 10-24
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) WISQARS
Leading Causes of Death Reports 2017)
● More people ages 10-24 die by suicide than from cancer, heart
disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza and
chronic lung disease COMBINED.
a. Each day there are over 3,069 suicide attempts by young
people in grades 9-12, when grades 7-8 added, the numbers
are even higher.
b. Each day in the U.S. there are > 18 suicides
● Annually, there are twice as many suicides (47,137) v. homicides (19,
510) in this country, for all ages.
● 80% of youth who die by suicide gave warning signs, usually to peers
What Parents Need To Know About Suicide
Critical signs of suicide demanding
immediate attention
● Talking or writing about suicide or death
● Direct/Indirect statements, drawings, online posts
● Dropping out of school and/or activities
● Isolation
● Neglecting appearance/hygiene
● Obtaining weapon
● Giving away prized possessions
● Dramatic or sudden mood changes
What Parents Need to Know About Suicide

If your child is suicidal, in danger of

harming themselves or others
● Call 911 OR, if you can do so safely, transport them to the nearest hospital
● Use the closest ER when medical attention is needed due to a suicide attempt
● If not attempted, seek the closest behavioral health hospital and request a
“level-of care assessment “ (these are provided free-of-cost).
– Less wait time
– Not every hospital has a psychiatric facility
– Bring your ID and insurance card

For advice or tips (no immediate crisis): Call the

Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800 273-TALK (8255)
What Parents Need to Know About Suicide
Proactive Parenting Tips
● Check in with your tween, teen often
● Get to know your tween, teen’s friends and their parents
● Remove all lethal means from the home. Lock up medications.
● Don’t be afraid to talk to another parent about concerns
you have about their child
● Be sure your child knows to tell you if they or a friend is at risk
● Monitor and discuss internet safety with your teen
● Stay connected via social media and monitor accounts
● Monitor your teen’s school work and standardized tests for changes
● Get your child treatment at the first warning sign. Don’t Wait!
Parenting Digital Kids
Why Manage Your Child’s Online
Activity?
● We don’t leave our kids home alone, with the front door
unlocked and let them wander anywhere they want to or let
strangers into our home
● Giving your child a device without multi-level safety controls
is no different
Parenting Digital Kids
6 steps to managing your
child’s online activity
● Communicate with your child, their school, their peers parents
● Create tech free zones at home - bedroom, bathroom, dinner table
● Know your child’s phone and all account passwords
● Immediately set up built-in Parent Controls on devices
○ Apple - Screen Time found in Settings, Turn On, Set Pin
○ Android - Play Store, Menu, Settings, User Control,
Parental Controls, Turn On, Set Pin
● Set Up Monitoring and Alert Controls - Bark Technologies $9/month family
● Install home network content filtering - CISCO FREE OpenDNS Shield
What Parents Need to Ask
Their Schools About
Internet Safety
What Parents Need to Ask Their Schools About Internet Safety
Educating digital kids
● Schools have locked doors. Staff and Volunteers have
background searches. Guns are not allowed in schools.
Alarms are in place for breaking and entering. Schools should
be a safe place.
● School devices with multi-level security controls MUST be in
place to keep schools a safe place.
What parents need to ask their schools about internet safety
Ask your school these questions
● What do you have in place for Network Security?
○ Firewalls, Blocked Content?
○ How is it monitored, how frequently, by whom?
● What do you have in place for Browser Security?
(Examples: Bark Technologies, Securly, Qustodio)
○ Chromebooks – Google SafeSearch blocks explicit content
from the Google Chrome web browser.
○ Do you disable additional browsers other than Google or
Google Chrome? If not, how do you ensure all browsers are in
a Safe Search mode? How do you monitor them?
○ Do you disable incognito or private search modes? If not, why
not? Do you still receive content search history when in these
modes?
What Parents Need to Ask Their Schools About Internet Safety
Ask your school these questions
● What do you have in place for Individual Security? How do you
block downloading apps, accessing games, streaming services,
inappropriate content that undermines a positive learning environment?
(Example answers: Bark Technologies, Securly, Qustodio)
● Do iPads/computers managed by the school have administrator-
managed profiles to ensure that settings are secure?
● How is the school and parents alerted to dangerous or other
inappropriate content?
How are these alerts managed? How quickly will parents be alerted?
What resources are in place to access the situation? IE: suicidal
ideation, gun violence, etc?
● When a student circumvents a safety measure how are you and
parents alerted?
 FINAL NOTE
No filter, parental control, or
monitoring app is fool-proof.

None of these replace the need for

digital parents to be diligent.
Helpful resources:
Facebook Group “Parenting in a Tech World” and parentingdigital.com
www.opendns.com/familyshield CISCO

Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). Mandated 2000.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Mandated 2000
Bark For Schools is free to all K-12 Schools
Bark For Schools monitors G Suite and Office 365
Bark For Schools is in more than 1800 districts across the U.S.
Bark for Schools: Issues Detected on School Accounts in 2019
Bark for Schools: Issues Detected on School Accounts in 2019
 For More Resources, see
gabrielslight.org
Lighting the way for action on youth cyber safety,
hope for suicide education and kindness over bullying
In order to keep our kids safe.