Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Mom tells why your teen should not watch ’13 Reasons Why’

Transcript

Mom tells why your teen should not watch ’13 Reasons Why’ · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, it's Hannah. The Netflix show Thirteen Reasons Why has
0:09
Speaker 1: been criticized for glorifying suicide because I'm about to tell
0:12
Speaker 1: you the story of my life, more specifically, why my
0:15
Speaker 1: life ended. The fictional series features a high school girl
0:19
Speaker 1: who sends tapes to students and a teacher explaining how
0:22
Speaker 1: they wronged her. If you're listening to this tape, you're
0:24
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why everyone is just so nice
0:27
Speaker 1: until they drive you to kill yourself. This is Crime
0:30
Speaker 1: Stories with Nancy Grace. Other says a teacher gave her
0:33
Speaker 1: fifteen year old son the idea to watch a Netflix
0:36
Speaker 1: series she feels contributed to some of his mental health issues.
0:39
Speaker 1: One of the teachers was discussing the series in class
0:43
Speaker 1: and basically said, you know, I think it's a pretty
0:45
Speaker 1: good show. You guys should check it out. Days later,
0:47
Speaker 1: her son was committed for psychiatric evaluation. He was creating
0:51
Speaker 1: a thirteen Reasons Why list told us he was having
0:54
Speaker 1: thoughts of suicide that he didn't want to live. The
0:58
Speaker 1: controversial need You Netflix show Thirteen Reasons Why? It sounds
1:05
Speaker 1: innocent innocuous enough, doesn't it? Thirteen Reasons Why? Why? What? Why?
1:11
Speaker 1: I don't want to live. That's the rest of that sentence.
1:15
Speaker 1: Thirteen reasons why I want to commit suicide? And this
1:23
Speaker 1: is geared toward tweens. Yeah, children, I'm Nancy Grace. This
1:31
Speaker 1: is Crime Stories. We reported on a vigilant Florida mother
1:37
Speaker 1: who got very concerned when her son had suicidal ideations
1:43
Speaker 1: thoughts of suicide. Well, who wouldn't think about suicide after
1:48
Speaker 1: you watch Netflix thirteen reasons why I should commit suicide?
1:52
Speaker 1: And it's about a young person who does, in fact
1:56
Speaker 1: go on to commit suicide and by killing themselves games
2:01
Speaker 1: some sort of notoriety or popularity amongst their horrible friends
2:07
Speaker 1: that mocked them and bullied them in life. It's all
2:12
Speaker 1: twisted up and bass awkwards. Who wouldn't think of suicide
2:17
Speaker 1: when you watch a popular show about child suicide? Of
2:21
Speaker 1: course you're gonna think about suicide. I didn't think about
2:24
Speaker 1: suicide until I read this story. Well, joining me right
2:28
Speaker 1: now is a very special guest that child's mother. Yes,
2:34
Speaker 1: the Florida mom who we're just calling mom, is with
2:38
Speaker 1: me to talk about this, to set the record straight
2:42
Speaker 1: and explain her thinking. Mom. Thank you so much for
2:46
Speaker 1: being with us. Thank you, Anthy, I really appreciate you
2:50
Speaker 1: joining us on the podcast. I have had a very
2:54
Speaker 1: very dear friend out of the blue commits suicide and
2:58
Speaker 1: I never understood. I never understood why, and it has
3:03
Speaker 1: haunted me all this time, thinking maybe there was something
3:07
Speaker 1: I could have done about it. You are doing something
3:10
Speaker 1: about it. Tell me how this whole thing got started, mom, Well, basically,
3:15
Speaker 1: it was brought to light that a couple of friends
3:17
Speaker 1: my kids were my son was hanging out with, were
3:21
Speaker 1: in in a pretty bad state of mind themselves. And
3:25
Speaker 1: when at this time it was revealed to me through
3:27
Speaker 1: some risky behavior by my son, just some different different
3:30
Speaker 1: things that he had done that made me stop and wonder,
3:34
Speaker 1: why is he doing these things? He knows that you know,
3:37
Speaker 1: this just isn't him, And so I put an end
3:41
Speaker 1: to him communicating through social media with these two kids,
3:45
Speaker 1: because what was happening was the three kids, instead of
3:48
Speaker 1: reaching out for help, were wallowing in their pain and
3:52
Speaker 1: feeding off of each other, and it was only making
3:55
Speaker 1: matters worse. And when you said, Nancy that your your
3:59
Speaker 1: frame committed sue side and you had no idea why.
4:01
Speaker 1: That's that's the problem. That's the problem with this teacher
4:06
Speaker 1: talking with the students about it. He himself said to
4:10
Speaker 1: the assistant principle, I would have never thought that this
4:13
Speaker 1: child had these problems. He's always in a good mood.
4:16
Speaker 1: He's always active in class, he always participates. Um, he
4:20
Speaker 1: respected law enforcement very much, and you know, to take advice, like,
4:25
Speaker 1: I think it's a pretty good show. You guys should
4:27
Speaker 1: check it out. Really meant that it was a good
4:29
Speaker 1: thing for him to do. And I had no idea.
4:31
Speaker 1: And I've been blamed that he's watched it, but I
4:34
Speaker 1: didn't even know the show existed until it all came out.
4:37
Speaker 1: Oh my stars, mom, let me tell you something about
4:41
Speaker 1: Every two or three days, either my son or my
4:44
Speaker 1: door says, can we watch Netflix. I'm like, no, no,
4:49
Speaker 1: because I don't know what they'll you know, happened to
4:52
Speaker 1: hit on And I've watched Netflix plenty, especially crime related things,
4:58
Speaker 1: but I sure as heck don't want them to get
5:00
Speaker 1: on and find something, especially like this. I I didn't
5:05
Speaker 1: even know this existed, but I can only imagine if
5:09
Speaker 1: I've got nine year old twins, if they got ahold
5:11
Speaker 1: of this and started thinking about suicide. I was devastated
5:15
Speaker 1: when I finally did hear about it and checked it
5:17
Speaker 1: out myself. I did not watch the series. I did not,
5:19
Speaker 1: but I did watch the commentary with Selagon as the
5:23
Speaker 1: actors and actresses and what they felt they were doing well.
5:28
Speaker 1: By at that time, my son had already watched the
5:30
Speaker 1: whole thing alone. And that's the problem. You have people
5:34
Speaker 1: on both sides saying the show is not a problem.
5:37
Speaker 1: But if your child has some issues that he's hiding
5:40
Speaker 1: from you and it is a problem, it can suck
5:44
Speaker 1: them in deeper, just like it had done. What child
5:48
Speaker 1: in school doesn't have a problem. I mean, even that
5:52
Speaker 1: was popular. Like my sister, she was the valedictorian, beautiful,
5:58
Speaker 1: she tried out for cheerly with me, made varsity cheerleading.
6:03
Speaker 1: She was the smartest one in the school. And you think,
6:05
Speaker 1: you know she had it all, But did you know
6:08
Speaker 1: she had bullies, people that made fun of her for
6:11
Speaker 1: being so smart. I mean, it's not like that. Nobody
6:15
Speaker 1: knew that. Every day we were latch key kids. We
6:18
Speaker 1: came home alone, we cleaned the house, we made dinner,
6:21
Speaker 1: we did the chores, blah blah blah, we all worked,
6:24
Speaker 1: had jobs. Nobody would have known all that, but on
6:28
Speaker 1: the outside looking and you think, wow, she doesn't have
6:31
Speaker 1: any problems. Well, she did have problems that she never voiced.
6:35
Speaker 1: A lot of kids have bullies they never mentioned because
6:37
Speaker 1: they're embarrassed. They feed into what the bullies say. They
6:41
Speaker 1: think they're fat, they think they're stupid, they think they
6:43
Speaker 1: are four eyes or whatever they're called at school. They
6:46
Speaker 1: buy into it. They start believing, and they don't want
6:48
Speaker 1: to tell. Their parents are ashamed. I mean, of course,
6:51
Speaker 1: your kid has problems at school. Every kid has problems
6:54
Speaker 1: at school. My daughter got her first bully in pre K.
6:58
Speaker 1: For Pete's sake, pre k, he was not only bullied
7:01
Speaker 1: by students, but he's been bullied by teachers in this
7:04
Speaker 1: school system. Twice. I've had to go and confront teachers
7:07
Speaker 1: about them bullying and humiliating him at school. Okay, wait
7:10
Speaker 1: a minute, whoa, whoa, whoa, What did a teacher say
7:14
Speaker 1: to him? It's not what she said to him, it's
7:17
Speaker 1: what she said to her class after he left the room.
7:19
Speaker 1: He was being bullied in the classroom and the teacher
7:22
Speaker 1: wasn't even in the room. She was standing outside the door.
7:25
Speaker 1: And a voice lit a chair in front of my
7:27
Speaker 1: son when he tried to go sit down, and my
7:29
Speaker 1: son moved the chair back out of the way, and
7:31
Speaker 1: then when he went to go again, the kid pushed
7:33
Speaker 1: the chair in front of him again. And then my
7:35
Speaker 1: son picked the chair up put it over the table.
7:38
Speaker 1: The chair slipped out of his hand. The teacher comes
7:40
Speaker 1: running in and says that he threw a chair closs
7:42
Speaker 1: across the classroom, So instead of sending him to the office,
7:45
Speaker 1: she sends somebody down there to get him, and once
7:48
Speaker 1: he leaves the classroom, she explains to the child, the
7:51
Speaker 1: children and better in the classroom that he has obviously
7:54
Speaker 1: some deep seated anger and and some issues going on.
7:57
Speaker 1: It must be a problem at almost how my son
8:01
Speaker 1: didn't come back and tell me that because he had
8:03
Speaker 1: no knowledge. I hope you chewed them. I knew butthole
8:08
Speaker 1: of course that I'd be worth that. We're not allowed
8:10
Speaker 1: to say at home, but the children aren't listening, so
8:13
Speaker 1: I'll totally say it. Let me ask you about this.
8:15
Speaker 1: So your child has can I ask you that his age?
8:20
Speaker 1: He just turns fifteen, okay, so all this has been
8:23
Speaker 1: going on when he is a twain, he's you know, twelve, thirteen, fourteen.
8:29
Speaker 1: He's just a baby. That is just a little baby.
8:33
Speaker 1: He's sweet. That's like my son. He's a lover or
8:36
Speaker 1: not a fighter. Yeah, that's my friend too. He loves everybody.
8:39
Speaker 1: He's always happy, always trying to see the positive side
8:42
Speaker 1: and things. And it's very sad that the people that
8:46
Speaker 1: you trust him with can be bullies too. And the
8:48
Speaker 1: teacher straight up told me while I was confronting her
8:51
Speaker 1: for her first explanation was all the kids were lying
8:54
Speaker 1: because it wasn't my son that came and told me,
8:56
Speaker 1: it was his friends in the classroom. And her first
8:58
Speaker 1: thing was they're lying. I said, no, we're gonna get
9:01
Speaker 1: to the bottom of this. You're not gonna just say
9:03
Speaker 1: the kids are all lying, just like the the current
9:07
Speaker 1: teacher we're discussing. He blamed it on the children that
9:09
Speaker 1: they discussed it. Well, if you know where they discussed it,
9:11
Speaker 1: then obviously it's initiation. Did Yeah, you're right. If they're
9:15
Speaker 1: all discussing it, it's an issue. I'm gonna pause and
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Speaker 1: to you. Now, let's get back to our podcast. So
11:04
Speaker 1: did the teacher who will remain nameless tell the students, Yeah,
11:10
Speaker 1: it's a good show. Check it out. That's what the
11:13
Speaker 1: students told me, two different students in two different classrooms.
11:16
Speaker 1: Well as I used to tell all of my juries. Mom,
11:20
Speaker 1: do you think all these people are lying or just
11:25
Speaker 1: the defendant, which one makes more sense that he's lying
11:29
Speaker 1: to save his own skin, or all these witnesses have
11:33
Speaker 1: gotten together and come up with a story and they're
11:36
Speaker 1: all have a conspiracy to tell a story. No, that
11:40
Speaker 1: does not make sense. So now he's saying he didn't
11:43
Speaker 1: say that according to mom. Okay, what is what is
11:49
Speaker 1: the show about? Alan Duke tell me about the show
11:53
Speaker 1: because didn't a child in Thirteen Reasons Why commits suicide
12:00
Speaker 1: and then kind of get popular because the thirteen Horrible
12:04
Speaker 1: Friends are confronted postmortem after death, and they kind of
12:10
Speaker 1: glorify the dead child, and the dead child becomes popular.
12:16
Speaker 1: The best information that I have on this is what
12:19
Speaker 1: I know from psychologist Karen Stark, who has just joined
12:22
Speaker 1: us on the phone. Hey Karen Stark, we need you. Karen,
12:27
Speaker 1: You and I talked about this everybody. Karen is shrink.
12:31
Speaker 1: She's a actually actually she's a very renowned psychologist and
12:37
Speaker 1: has dealt with suicide issues many many times, commented on them,
12:42
Speaker 1: written about them. Karen Stark, thank you again for joining us. Well,
12:47
Speaker 1: we sure certainly start up a hornet's nest when we
12:49
Speaker 1: first started talking about Thirteen Reasons Why. And Karen, I
12:53
Speaker 1: don't know if you know this, but with me right now,
12:56
Speaker 1: is the student the child's mom. And I say mom
13:01
Speaker 1: is the hero because mom got found out about this
13:06
Speaker 1: and she saved her son's life as far as I'm concerned. Okay, Karen,
13:10
Speaker 1: But Karen, this this show, this Thirteen Reasons Why. And
13:14
Speaker 1: and I like Selena Gomez except for that little blip
13:17
Speaker 1: she had with Justin Bieber, but she is eping executive
13:21
Speaker 1: producing this thing. And they may in their minds think
13:24
Speaker 1: they're doing a favor to people, but what this does, is, Karen,
13:29
Speaker 1: my understanding is the child is bullied at school, the
13:33
Speaker 1: child commits suicide, and then the thirteen friends that bullied
13:37
Speaker 1: the child are confronted after the child is dead, and
13:41
Speaker 1: then the child gets popular. Who gives a fig if
13:44
Speaker 1: you're popular in high school? I mean, does anybody really
13:47
Speaker 1: think they're popular anyway? But it glorifies the whole suicide. Karen, Well,
13:52
Speaker 1: it makes it look nasty, like if you committ suicide,
13:55
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, everyone who's around you will
13:59
Speaker 1: be very, very regretful for their behavior. And that's what
14:05
Speaker 1: my friend said. She said that nobody ever said anything
14:09
Speaker 1: good about him, but if he wasn't here, they would
14:12
Speaker 1: all say nice things about him. Oh no, what, I'm
14:16
Speaker 1: so sorry. That is one of the signs that you
14:19
Speaker 1: have to watch for that someone would say that they'd
14:22
Speaker 1: be better off. He never said anything like that until
14:26
Speaker 1: this all came out. He never shared with me how
14:29
Speaker 1: he was feeling like that. You never told me that
14:33
Speaker 1: he felt that way. He told me that he didn't
14:35
Speaker 1: want people to make him seem like he was better
14:38
Speaker 1: than he was. Yeah, that's that's the problem with this show.
14:42
Speaker 1: I am so sorry that that's happened to you. Yes, Nancy,
14:46
Speaker 1: I'm just thinking. You know, the other day somebody said
14:53
Speaker 1: something made to Lucia's school. She was crying. The next day,
14:57
Speaker 1: John David came home and they had to prison sent
15:00
Speaker 1: there projects. There are science inventions, and John Davids was
15:04
Speaker 1: a flying car okay that he made out of cardboard,
15:08
Speaker 1: and each person had one vote okay, and nobody voted
15:15
Speaker 1: for his car. Okay. So he came home and he
15:18
Speaker 1: had worked so hard on it, and he started crying,
15:23
Speaker 1: and it about broke my heart. Can you imagine what
15:27
Speaker 1: this mother has gone through with her son, saying, nobody
15:30
Speaker 1: ever says anything good about me? And I mean he's
15:33
Speaker 1: only a baby. He's you know, when all this is
15:36
Speaker 1: going down, he's twelve, thirteen years old, Karen, And that's
15:40
Speaker 1: the time when your most susceptible, Nancy. And I'm so
15:44
Speaker 1: sorry to hear about your son, because you really take
15:48
Speaker 1: it in when you're that age. You don't realize the
15:51
Speaker 1: kinds of things that we talked about yesterday, Nancy. Bad
15:54
Speaker 1: things will get better, that you'll have a light, that
15:57
Speaker 1: people will care about you. And the price home with
16:00
Speaker 1: thirteen reasons, although they were well intended, is it makes
16:04
Speaker 1: it really look like everyone will then love you, regret
16:08
Speaker 1: their behavior, gathered together to talk about you. All of
16:13
Speaker 1: a sudden, you'll become this important person that you didn't
16:17
Speaker 1: feel like. So this girl who was not popular and
16:21
Speaker 1: rejected and everything went wrong, she wrote to each person
16:26
Speaker 1: and then they regretted their behavior. I want to go
16:29
Speaker 1: back to Mom, you said that your son said nobody
16:34
Speaker 1: ever said good things about him, and when he saw
16:37
Speaker 1: the show, he thought maybe people would like him if
16:41
Speaker 1: he committed suicide. Well, if he thought that they would
16:44
Speaker 1: didn't say, wow, you know, why would he do this?
16:47
Speaker 1: He was so friendly and so nice and so funny
16:51
Speaker 1: and so smart and and I told him, but you're
16:54
Speaker 1: not going to know that if you're not here, So
16:56
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what they say either way. I've always
16:59
Speaker 1: beencouraged him, and I have always believed in this world
17:03
Speaker 1: of social media and all the pressures that the kids
17:06
Speaker 1: are under, I, as a family with my children, let
17:11
Speaker 1: them know that I'm there all the time. But kids
17:13
Speaker 1: don't always tell you because they're embarrassed because they see
17:16
Speaker 1: mental health issues as crazy and and nobody wants to
17:19
Speaker 1: look at it. But none of this ever came out
17:23
Speaker 1: until the last breaking point when my son ran away.
17:27
Speaker 1: It was the most terrifying thing in my life. Oh,
17:30
Speaker 1: I have no doubt. I didn't know that part. What happened.
17:34
Speaker 1: What happened, Mom. We were having a discussion about the
17:37
Speaker 1: two kids that I didn't want in communicating on social
17:40
Speaker 1: media with and he was getting very frustrated, like he
17:42
Speaker 1: felt like he needed to stay in contact with them.
17:45
Speaker 1: And then and then he in his frustration, I guess
17:53
Speaker 1: because my other two kids were like, Robbie, oh my god,
17:57
Speaker 1: they're not your friends. You can't say them. And then
18:00
Speaker 1: he revealed twice that he was cutting himself, and we
18:04
Speaker 1: were all blown away. And maybe we didn't react to right,
18:07
Speaker 1: but how do you react when you see that? And
18:11
Speaker 1: then he just ran out the door and ran away,
18:14
Speaker 1: and we have to get them. Oh my stars, oh
18:18
Speaker 1: my stars. This is just snowballing, you know, Karen Um.
18:24
Speaker 1: Some school districts have pulled the book Thirteen Reasons Why
18:31
Speaker 1: after the deaths of seven students since the start of
18:36
Speaker 1: that year. Now, this is an a P Associated Press story.
18:41
Speaker 1: Mason County Valley School District pulled the book. Um. This
18:47
Speaker 1: is the Netflix hit. Thirteen Reasons Why is based on
18:51
Speaker 1: the novel by the same name, and it deals with
18:55
Speaker 1: a fictional teenager, Hannah Baker's death by suicide. But for
19:00
Speaker 1: her death, she records thirteen tapes telling people why she
19:05
Speaker 1: killed herself, basically telling them it was their fault that
19:08
Speaker 1: they bullied her and belittled her. Now, a lot of
19:11
Speaker 1: mental health experts, like Karen Stark, parents, teachers say it
19:15
Speaker 1: glorifies suicide and could be a dangerous lesson for teens. Now,
19:22
Speaker 1: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention says the risk of suicide
19:26
Speaker 1: increase when a story describes the method or uses graphic images. Now,
19:34
Speaker 1: there's no evidence those Mason County students who killed themselves
19:37
Speaker 1: were inspired by the book or or the series, but
19:41
Speaker 1: they removed the book. Seven Colorado community students kill themselves,
19:48
Speaker 1: and the district ordered the librarians librarians to remove the
19:52
Speaker 1: book Thirteen Reasons Why. And now now a Florida mom
19:59
Speaker 1: trying to say her own son is coming forward, claiming
20:02
Speaker 1: that kids in the class we're talking about the Netflix
20:07
Speaker 1: series and the teacher encouraged them to watch the show. Now,
20:13
Speaker 1: her son thanks, hey, maybe I'm better off dead, maybe
20:17
Speaker 1: people will like me. Then, Mom, how did you learn
20:20
Speaker 1: he was having thoughts of suicide? When a child is
20:25
Speaker 1: bay corrected, which is what they did when the police
20:28
Speaker 1: picked him up. They you know, they have to go
20:32
Speaker 1: and stay at this facility where they keep an eye
20:35
Speaker 1: on them. I guess they can prescribed medicines as needed,
20:39
Speaker 1: but they basically just stabilize the person until they feel
20:43
Speaker 1: like they're no longer a threat to their self. When
20:46
Speaker 1: he came home from there, I began to engage in
20:50
Speaker 1: him with about conversations about this issue, and I wanted
20:54
Speaker 1: him to talk to me and tell me how he felt,
20:56
Speaker 1: and he initially didn't want to talk to me, and
20:58
Speaker 1: then finally broke down, and then all of that came out.
21:02
Speaker 1: All of it came out, and he had even concocted
21:05
Speaker 1: a list. Thank god he didn't make it to the
21:07
Speaker 1: thirteenth recent why because homely ten on the list. But
21:12
Speaker 1: thank god I knew before he completed his list, before
21:16
Speaker 1: I knew the show existed, before anybody at school had
21:19
Speaker 1: talked to him about there's help out there. But see,
21:22
Speaker 1: that's the issue, Nancy. That's the whole reason that I
21:25
Speaker 1: went to the school. That's the whole reason that I
21:27
Speaker 1: gave them all the details because I wanted them to
21:29
Speaker 1: see how serious it is. And I said to the
21:31
Speaker 1: assistant principal, when I went to this very same school,
21:34
Speaker 1: we had law enforcement and child professionals come to the
21:37
Speaker 1: school and do assemblies and discuss these topics. And obviously
21:40
Speaker 1: this is a popular topic in America. Not just in Florida.
21:44
Speaker 1: They need to talk to the kids about it. And
21:46
Speaker 1: the only reason that I went to the news at
21:48
Speaker 1: all about it is because they did nothing. They didn't assemble,
21:52
Speaker 1: they didn't try to talk to the kids, they didn't
21:54
Speaker 1: reach out. Therefore, they don't want to deal with it.
21:59
Speaker 1: They don't want people to know that this is going
22:01
Speaker 1: on in their school and in their town. But it's
22:03
Speaker 1: going on in every school in every town right now.
22:06
Speaker 1: And until they address it, those kids are gonna go
22:08
Speaker 1: home this summer while their parents are at work and
22:11
Speaker 1: be alone with their sadness because they don't feel like
22:14
Speaker 1: there's anybody that they can talk to. All I wanted
22:17
Speaker 1: them to do was reach out to the kids. That's
22:20
Speaker 1: all I wanted them to do, and they have not
22:22
Speaker 1: done that. Well, you know, uh, we all know Michael
22:28
Speaker 1: jackson daughter Paris, who has dealt with a Yes, she's poor,
22:34
Speaker 1: little rich girl, I know that, But that doesn't mean
22:38
Speaker 1: she isn't saddened by her father's death, that she's not
22:42
Speaker 1: upset about her mother's illness. She says that thirteen reasons
22:48
Speaker 1: why is quote extremely triggering. Now this is after her
22:52
Speaker 1: own suicide attempt. This is a child she's you know,
22:58
Speaker 1: older now who had a suicide bid of her own,
23:03
Speaker 1: and she is warning teams don't watch it. Now we
23:07
Speaker 1: have a mom speaking out. I'm just stunned. The school
23:12
Speaker 1: isn't doing anything. But thank god, mom is what now?
23:19
Speaker 1: They haven't done anything. I thought for sure with this
23:22
Speaker 1: bring it. And I'm not only that. My son had
23:25
Speaker 1: written a list of kids that he knows across the
23:30
Speaker 1: eastern United States. He has friends in a lot of places,
23:34
Speaker 1: and he had a list of names of children that
23:36
Speaker 1: were self harming and had discussed it with him. And
23:40
Speaker 1: I brought that list to the school and they talked
23:42
Speaker 1: to the students, and of course the students are going
23:45
Speaker 1: to say to the principal or to the the resource officer, no,
23:48
Speaker 1: that's not me. I don't do that. Of course they're
23:50
Speaker 1: gonna say that. Of course they are. They're not gonna
23:52
Speaker 1: want to be out it and all this drama school
23:55
Speaker 1: surrounding them, and that's all they did. Well a week later,
23:59
Speaker 1: one of the girls that list was Baker acted. It's
24:01
Speaker 1: a problem. It needs to be looked at, it needs
24:04
Speaker 1: to be discussed with the children at the school. It's
24:08
Speaker 1: easy to blame parents, it's easy to blame parents, But
24:11
Speaker 1: for seven hours a day year with my child, I'm
24:13
Speaker 1: at work. They have an obligation to the students too.
24:17
Speaker 1: Law enforcement, teachers, principles, counselors, everybody has a responsibility to
24:22
Speaker 1: these kids. Mom, let me ask you a question. Everyone.
24:26
Speaker 1: The hotline eight hundred to seven three eight five eight
24:31
Speaker 1: hundred two seven three eight to five five, the National
24:35
Speaker 1: Suicide Prevention Line, Mom, what are you doing well? Since
24:42
Speaker 1: he told me there's no one me and his doctor.
24:44
Speaker 1: He told there's no one at that school that he
24:47
Speaker 1: feels comfortable going to if he has an issue, if
24:51
Speaker 1: he feels like he's at a breaking point, there's nobody
24:53
Speaker 1: there he can trust. So I've kept him at home.
24:56
Speaker 1: He's not going back to school this year. They're not
24:58
Speaker 1: addressing the issue. They're not looking at the kids he's
25:02
Speaker 1: After he got out of the NHRC, he was admitted
25:05
Speaker 1: to Wilson's Children's Hospital in Jacksonville. It's a wonderful hospital.
25:10
Speaker 1: They're doing a lot of great things for a lot
25:12
Speaker 1: of kids. They're hurting. I couldn't believe it when I
25:15
Speaker 1: went there to visit my son. How many kids don't
25:18
Speaker 1: want to live? Oh gosh, that's just killing me. Karen,
25:23
Speaker 1: please give us some advice. What can parents do? First
25:28
Speaker 1: of all, they have to watch for the signs, as
25:30
Speaker 1: we talked about yesterday, Nancy, it's very important. And this
25:34
Speaker 1: mother has already told us that her son's behavior had changed,
25:38
Speaker 1: that he was harming himself, and that's a huge signal.
25:42
Speaker 1: And you have to look and see talk about suicide
25:47
Speaker 1: just the way the school did not and actually in
25:50
Speaker 1: the show, the school did only after she killed herself.
25:53
Speaker 1: So you have to talk about dying and to see
25:58
Speaker 1: if your child's reacts I think they have any thoughts
26:01
Speaker 1: like that, and pay attention to a change in behavior,
26:05
Speaker 1: to change in personality, whether there's a difference in how
26:09
Speaker 1: they're sleeping too much or too little. Have they rust
26:12
Speaker 1: their appetite for they're suddenly over eating another thing. I
26:17
Speaker 1: I am all about parents reading email, going through your
26:23
Speaker 1: kids stuff. If you think there is a problem reading
26:26
Speaker 1: their text, looking at their history, are they going to
26:31
Speaker 1: self harming? Uh? Chat rooms issues like that. You are
26:36
Speaker 1: responsible for your child. The school. This school is not
26:41
Speaker 1: helping mom. It's all on mom, and mom works all day.
26:46
Speaker 1: I mean I don't. I'm praying for you, mom that
26:51
Speaker 1: the Lord helps you find a way through this and
26:54
Speaker 1: that your son survives this because you've got to work.
26:57
Speaker 1: You have to work, that's right. And what do you
27:01
Speaker 1: do while your son is at school or at home
27:04
Speaker 1: and you have to work. I'd be a nervous wreck.
27:08
Speaker 1: Everyone hotline my husband. Yeah, my husband is supervising him
27:16
Speaker 1: during the day. He's not home alone. Nancy. We don't
27:18
Speaker 1: leave him alone. My husband, thank god, out of work
27:24
Speaker 1: with an injury, and so therefore I have to go
27:27
Speaker 1: to work. Do you know how my heart feels when
27:29
Speaker 1: I have to come to work every day and I
27:31
Speaker 1: feel like it should be with him, but I have
27:33
Speaker 1: to support my family and support him when I get back.
27:35
Speaker 1: It's it's a difficult. I know, I know, Karen. Do
27:41
Speaker 1: you remember when I would leave for work and it
27:44
Speaker 1: would kill me to go over to seeing in studios.
27:48
Speaker 1: I would bathe them, be playing with them. I would
27:52
Speaker 1: have to sneak out without my shoes on so they
27:55
Speaker 1: wouldn't realize I was leaving, or they would start crying
27:59
Speaker 1: and beg me to day and it just broke my heart.
28:03
Speaker 1: And now this mom is dealing with leaving. I remember
28:08
Speaker 1: how you would never leave them, and if you had
28:10
Speaker 1: to leave them, you went. If you had to travel
28:13
Speaker 1: with your job, you would go immediately back to them.
28:16
Speaker 1: You brought them wherever you could. I remember all of it.
28:20
Speaker 1: I just think it was so frightening. I just I'm
28:25
Speaker 1: so worried about this mom and this boy. And you
28:29
Speaker 1: know what, there's thousands and thousands of situations just like this. Everyone.
28:36
Speaker 1: Please one out of five. That's a huge number, huge number.
28:41
Speaker 1: One out of five. Mom, thank you for being with us.
28:46
Speaker 1: I'm hoping that your son has someone he can talk to.
28:50
Speaker 1: He does. He is set up with counselors. Wilson's um
28:54
Speaker 1: made a good safety plan for us before we left,
28:57
Speaker 1: so we could see what looks and what to be
29:01
Speaker 1: prepared for, how to prepare the home before he got
29:03
Speaker 1: back there. And he's actually coming back very quickly since
29:08
Speaker 1: he hasn't been at school. And I and he just
29:12
Speaker 1: record straight, okay, I'm not None of this ever came
29:16
Speaker 1: to the public in hopes to blame the teacher for
29:20
Speaker 1: mental illness. I'm not stupid. I know that it's not
29:23
Speaker 1: his fault that the student has mental illness. However, if
29:29
Speaker 1: he felt like that conversation had to go on, and
29:31
Speaker 1: if you read in the original story, when they questioned him,
29:33
Speaker 1: He said the kids were talking about it. He went
29:36
Speaker 1: home and watched it. They came back and had a discussion,
29:39
Speaker 1: which means he saw the warning at the beginning of
29:42
Speaker 1: the show, which should have plued him in to hey,
29:45
Speaker 1: maybe we should let the parents know before this goes
29:47
Speaker 1: any further, and that was not done. That is the
29:49
Speaker 1: issue I've had anther parent judging me like I'm the
29:53
Speaker 1: worst woman in the world, the worst mother ever out there,
29:56
Speaker 1: and that is simply not true at all. I've done
29:59
Speaker 1: everything but I can for my kids, everything that I
30:02
Speaker 1: can to try to keep them safe. But you do
30:04
Speaker 1: not know everything. If every mother knew everything, we wouldn't
30:08
Speaker 1: be having this talk right now. I think that a
30:11
Speaker 1: teacher I've never I taught people saying that I was
30:14
Speaker 1: trying to get paid. I'm not trying to get paid.
30:17
Speaker 1: I'm trying to save a life, my son's life. And
30:20
Speaker 1: I can't believe people even said that about you. Don't
30:23
Speaker 1: they understand a mother's love. Well, they're horrible, they're horrible,
30:28
Speaker 1: and they're adult bullies. But this is what I know.
30:31
Speaker 1: You're saving his life. You are saving his life, and
30:35
Speaker 1: the teacher. If the teacher said this is a great show.
30:39
Speaker 1: You should check it out. That in itself is a
30:42
Speaker 1: big no no. I'm sure the teacher didn't mean it
30:45
Speaker 1: to end up like this, but it did. And I
30:48
Speaker 1: know you're not out for money. That's a horrible allegation
30:51
Speaker 1: to make against you. You're trying to save your son's life.
30:54
Speaker 1: And in my eyes, exactly, in my eyes, you're a hero.
30:58
Speaker 1: I want to put that number out one more time.
31:00
Speaker 1: The National Suicide Prevention Line eight D two seven three
31:04
Speaker 1: eight two five five and again, if you're not there
31:08
Speaker 1: when a fire starts, who will be there to save
31:11
Speaker 1: your home? Would simply save home security, your smoke detectors,
31:15
Speaker 1: immediately alert emergency services at the first sign of a fire,
31:20
Speaker 1: get timber sent off your system. Today, it's simply safe
31:23
Speaker 1: dot com slash Nancy. That's simply save dot com slash
31:28
Speaker 1: Nancy with me, the Florida mom we've been talking about,
31:33
Speaker 1: and Karen Stark and my buddy Alan Deep Nancy Grace
31:37
Speaker 1: crime story signing off, goodbye friend,