Home > Bullying > Friends Blame Cyber-Bullying For 16-Year-Old Jessica Laney’s Suicide

Friends Blame Cyber-Bullying For 16-Year-Old Jessica Laney’s Suicide

December 12, 2012 at 11:02 am by Morbid

HUDSON, FL -- Pasco County authorities say 16-year-old Jessica Laney hanged herself Sunday night, and some of her friends say cyber-bullying is to blame.

According to one of her friends, Laney attended Fivay High School after being transferred there due to bullying at her previous high school. But they say the bullying that led to Laney killing herself did not come from her new school, but rather from anonymous people online. In particular, members of the website Ask.fm.

For the un-initiated, Ask.fm is a social site where users can invite questions and comments from other members, anonymously. Laney’s page is full of the standard crap you would expect on a cute 16-year-old girl’s page, but also contains some disparaging comments from anonymous users calling her fat and a loser. Some even tell teh girl no one cares about her and instruct Laney to hurry up and kill herself.

Her friends say these negative comments are what led the girl to hang herself Sunday night, although official from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office says neither Laney’s parents nor Laney’s boyfriend were aware of Laney being bullied. In fact, some of the comments Laney made in response to these anonymous trolls seemed to be coming from someone un-phased by their comments. Pasco County deputies say they will continue to investigate Laney’s death and released the following statement:

“Our thoughts and prayers go to the Jessica Marie Laney family as they deal with their loss. The Pasco Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate the events that led up to her death on December 9, 2012. The PSO is not aware of any formal complaint to the Pasco School District or PSO about her being bullied. However, we continue to speak with family members, close friends and review various social media postings as we continue our death investigation.”

Jessica Laney

A handful of obligatory Facebook tribute pages have cropped up with some asking for Ask.fm to be shut down, even going as far as creating an online petition. One of Laney’s friends posted: “…last night, my friend Jessica Laney took her life. She was constantly bullied and bullied. And she was pushed and pushed to the point where she couldn’t handle it anymore. And if you could spread the word about the website ask.fm, & how it needs to be shut down, that would be amazing too. Ask.fm is a website where people can ask anonymous questions to anyone they want. And thats how Jessica was constantly put down and bullied.”

I know they think what they are doing is logical, but unless Laney left a note explaining exactly why she decided to kill herself, then no one knows if the Ask.fm comments had anything to do with her decision. Even if the comments did factor into her deciding to hang herself, why would Ask.fm share in any of that blame? I’m not condoning the negative comments made towards Laney, but the site was specifically setup for anonymous posting. What do people expect? Teenagers can be assholes, especially when donning the cloak of anonymity.

To me, the real solution to the problem of teens and cyber-bullying is a simple one that I have repeated ad nauseam, and its not for parents to keep their kids offline. Parents just need to MONITOR THEIR ONLINE ACTIVITY. I’m not blaming Laney’s parents for their dead kid, but they are solely responsible for being unaware of the disparaging comments suspected of pushing Laney to commit suicide.

I may not know everything going on my teen’s life, but it isn’t for lack of trying. Teens are secretive, prone to massive brain farts, and surrounded by peers who have parents who don’t give a shit if their 15-year-old posts a picture online of themselves holding a bag of weed. Because of this, we actively monitor his online activities. My teen cannot count how many times me or his mother have called him regarding a tweet he’s made on Twitter, or a comment he’s made on Facebook, with the simple instruction, “Delete it.”

The one stipulation we have regarding our kid’s online accounts is that we have the passwords for all of them. Of course he’s probably got multiple accounts, but still, he knows we are watching. Sometimes all it takes to circumvent unbridled stupidity is a little involvement. We give him enough space to be young, fun, and dumb… but when he inevitably posts something publicly that may hurt him in the future, we have no issues stepping in, much to his dismay.

As a parent, part of your job is protecting your kids from harm, even if that means occasionally protecting them from themselves. I will never fathom why some parents feel their job as a parent ends as soon as their kids park their asses in front of a computer.

Tags: Ask.fm, Bullying, Crime, Cyber-bullying, Florida, Hanging, Jessica Laney, online, Suicide, teen

69 Comments

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Evan Oswald

if you wanna kill yourself because you get picked on, then more power to ya. sick of people blaming others.
http://www.facebook.com/JaimeMConfer Jaime Confer

Okay, having dated a suicidal guy in my younger years, I can honestly say the bullying isn’t fully at fault. The guy shot himself in the head but luckily survived. However he had deeper underlying issues that wasn’t addressed until after he tried to off himself. His parents didn’t realize or notice he needed help until then. The most basic thing that normal teens deal with can set someone like that off. I don’t condone bullying, but if the child knows how to brush it off and ignore it they aren’t effected by it. If they don’t know how to cope with normal, stupid stuff then they can be pushed over the edge and do stuff like kill themselves or others. It’s all about deeper mental issues and needing help. Parents need to pay more attention to their kids lives and drill it in their heads to come to them ASAP if something is bugging them.
http://www.facebook.com/scottymac247 Scott McAllister

maybe she should of gave up on the website after her first visit there
http://www.facebook.com/timothymatthewmurphy brain_bomb

The interent is becoming more and more dangerous for teenaged girls, they need to just stay the fuck off of it if their emotions are being negatively affected by it. And I just don’t get killing yourself. I’d 1,000% kill someone else before killing myself.
OutOfBubbleGum

For all you mean and hateful Cyber Bullies out there, I say:
I’m Cyber Rubber,
You’re Cyber Glue,
Whatever you say,
Bounces of Cyber Me,
And Sticks to ……… 404 – Not Found
WTF? DAM YOU!! YOU CYBER BULLY. STAY THERE AND FIGHT LIKE A CYBER MAN.
chgplz

This was a child without the coping skills needed to deal with her peers and obviously with more deeper rooted issues than bullying, that she was most likely to ashamed to reveal.Teens blame others all the time anyway for everything because they have not yet learned that some or which experiences in their lives are their responsibility. When I was a teen I was abused I blamed myself because I didnt know any better. Being a teenager does not equal being a sane, responsible, good decision making individual.Thus the reason they have parents and are not legally responsible for themselves.
Evan Oswald

her parents obviously didn’t teach her how to deal with people insulting her. I see your point tho, this is a “parenting fail” not a “kid fail”. Either way i don’t feel bad for them.
Evan Oswald

and thank gawd this girl only killed herself
Evan Oswald

lol
http://www.facebook.com/people/Rochell-Arnold/100000587657456 Rochell Arnold

The fact that many parents do not monitor their children’s activity online bothers me immensely.
http://www.facebook.com/timothymatthewmurphy brain_bomb

I’m not saying she should have pulled a Columbine by any means. But she certainly could have thrown a moltov cocktail in her bully’s bedroom window while she slept and the result would have been more in her favor.
LeaveMeBe

Here is what gets me: In every situation, people look for someone or something to “blame”. It’s human nature. My issue is that automatically everyone seems to immediately go to bullying, and there can be varying opinions as to what bullying is. The things that lead to suicide are so complex that to point to one instance or issue is ridiculous.
http://www.dreamindemon.com Morbid

I think that just comes from people not understanding suicide and what leads people to do it — especially a 16-year-old girl. Just easier to point to bullying because it’s a buzzword at the moment, and it seems to be the only visible issue this girl had. Personally, I don’t think the Ask.com comments contributed to this, or if they did, it was just the straw.
JGo555

I just don’t understand the mega sensitivity sometimes.
http://www.dreamindemon.com Morbid

As I tried to point out in the article, we have no idea that this is a case of mega sensitivity. The only ones blaming online bullying are her friends.
TheAlphaSoup

Inappropriately laughing because ASK.COM SHOOT I KNEW THAT SITE WAS EVIL IT JUST WANTS REVENGE ON GOOGLE.
lovefood

I don’t understand why she would kill herself just because some stranger told her to. I understand that she is having problems at home but most of us do. I was bullied and cyber bullied, divorced parents, siblings ignored me, and only 1 friend. Class mates would tell me to kill myself and classmates would hit me. I was very insecure and felt very low even felt like killing myself. My own sister said “go ahead do it”. I can honestly say that this has made me a stronger. We just need to be strong and keep fighting, prove them all wrong. It is only temporary and it WILL get better.
TheAlphaSoup

This is just too tragic. The Internet is not a kind place, especially not for kids, and especially not for girls. This sounds like it’s coming from an angry feminist, but teenage girls are especially targeted on the interwebs. I always say that there should be more emphasis on teaching self defense against cyber-bullying than actually trying to catch the h8r tr0lls. The one time I was stupid enough to use the mic while gaming, I got screamed at by these two random guys (they were way to incomprehensible for me to quote them). At that point I just logged off and went to read a book. Just walk it off, they’re just basic b*tches.
RoxBerry

I don’t understand why she would kill herself just because some stranger
told her to. I understand that she is having problems at home but most
of us do. I was bullied and cyber bullied, divorced parents, siblings
ignored me, and only 1 friend. Class mates would tell me to kill myself
and classmates would hit me. I was very insecure and felt very low even
felt like killing myself. My own sister said “go ahead do it”. I can
honestly say that this has made me a stronger person. We just need to be strong
and keep fighting, prove them all wrong. It is only temporary and it
WILL get better.
TheAlphaSoup

I’m sorry that you had such a bad experience, but I am so glad you got stronger as a result! That being said, I don’t agree with your first line though. Not everybody’s the same. She wasn’t as emotionally hardy as you are, unfortunately. But that’s the only thing I disagree with you on. It does get better. Much better. Rock on, lovefood, rock on.
Dillon_Lewandowski

I honestly feel no sympathy for her if she would really kill herself over something that meaningless.
Clyde The Dog

Meh, I feel bad for almost all stupid and ignorant people, but that’s just me…exception is when their stupidity effects my life….
Aslan

Bah, friends at that age aren’t really friends. They love drama and only
talk to you because they think it may increase (or at least sustain)
their popularity.

I don’t understand why suicide is the new trend
but I absolutely agree with you about parents monitoring their
children’s online activity.

You know what a good idea is? MAKE
THEM GO OUTSIDE. Get them into a sport or active in something that
interests them. Interact with actual people outside of school. Hell, get
them a zoo membership so they can realize the world is so much bigger
than it seems.

I am so sorry this little girl decided this was the best way to solve her problems.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XA4RDSRSUX3XRSCPRR7XNGSPUQ Joshua

See I don’t always like to blame the parents. A lot of parents do try their best (ok not on this site) and their kids still end up becoming meth heads or sullen suicide cases.

I had a class at the GBI a while back where they told the story about Ryan Halligan. The 13 year old was being called gay (he apparently wasn’t) at school and being cyber bullied. He began considering suicide and began to go to websites focusing on that…one of his friends from one of these sites encouraged him to commit suicide and when the kid said he would the little shit told him phew about time. The thing that stood out for me with that story is that Ryan’s father really did care. After the suicide Ryan’s dad logged onto his son’s computer, tracked down both the bully who spread the gay rumor at ryan’s school as well as the online piece of shit who encouraged him to kill himself to get some answers.

Always blaming the parents just seems a bit snide and judgmental to me. Parents are human and they’re not telepaths who can read their kids minds.
LuvsHorror

You’re a good daddy, Morbid.
LoKi4778

Maybe her friends know something that leaves them in an actionable position, so they throw the “bullying” buzzword around to cloud any investigation…
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XA4RDSRSUX3XRSCPRR7XNGSPUQ Joshua

I was mega sensitive at that age. I’m glad social media wasn’t around to mock me back then. I think in some ways kids have it worse today when I was a kid. Evil little shits can post whatever vile things they want about you and it be called up anytime anyone googles your name and be on the internet forever.
Evan Oswald

nice comment. unfortunetly i don’t agree with you – as a parent you should realize your kid is such a moop that they’d kill themselves if they got sad enough and someone on the interwebs told them to. I’d say the world was better off without these moops but they are only kids and they would likely grow up to be normal DD regular commenters, someday.
Evan Oswald

hey if you have the heart and time to feel for them – more power to you.
Aslan

Yeah apparently we have drilled it into their heads that the ‘internet is forever’ but forgot about the whole ‘death is also forever’ part.
Clyde The Dog

I sometimes think that when a teen commits suicide successfully, that there was always that chance that all they wanted was attention and really didn’t want to go “all the way” thru with it but they did. I’ve heard of a few people holding guns to their heads as kids, waiting for someone to “catch” them so they would be saved or, “about” to hang themselves when just as they got the rope around their neck, a sibling or parent walks in. And I’m saying just some, not all. But, it’s such a fucked up time at that age, every stupid thing is the end of the world, and I have sisters so I know how girls get all worked up over tiny shit that no one but them thinks is important.
sucks this kids took herself out.
Clyde The Dog

Suicide by Helium is the new trend….get it right, will ya.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XA4RDSRSUX3XRSCPRR7XNGSPUQ Joshua

Some people have that little engine that could attitude and some don’t.

I get depressed too but if everyone in my life told me tomorrow they hated me it would hurt real bad but I think I could still survive it. I’m selfish enough to put myself first (no kids) and not be wracked with guilt or despair because people didn’t like me. I used to feel bad when people didn’t like me but then it dawned on…I don’t like them either. I hate people. I could feel bad that people don’t like me or I could feel great being an asshole like they are. So now when people are nasty towards me or screw me over I undermine, insult, backstab, manipulate or utterly ignore them. And it makes me feel better.

(I’m always content to be part of the problem instead of stepping up to be the solution)
Athena

The teenage mind is incredibly impulsive. In some cases, there’s absolutely no way to know a teen is suicidal, as it didn’t cross their mind until the second they committed to taking the proverbial leap. Not every suicidal kid is some loner emo bedroom-dweller. Many of them were suicidal for only a few minutes or hours… just long enough to make the decision and do it.
alphatroll

What about cases like this where the “bullying” happened on Facebook? I’ve never heard anyone demanding that Facebook be shut down because of it – but it’s “appropriate” when the site is something relatively unpopular like ask.fm.

The same thing’s happening over the mall shooting in Portland today – because the guy posted about his plans on 4chan, people are demanding that 4chan be shut down.

I’m pretty sure in both cases the demands are coming from ignorant children, of course, so it really tells you more about ignorant children on the internet than it does about the sites involved.
Andyman

“Of course he’s probably got multiple accounts, but still, he knows we are watching.”

Watching is a good plan/idea. So are keyloggers on your kid’s computer. Then you can monitor all the posts, even on the hidden accounts.
Andyman

I think that is a little harsh. I think 15/16 is the hardest time in a kid’s life. It certainly was for me. You’re not an adult yet and you aren’t a kid either. You’re sort of in limbo.
Evan Oswald

fair enough – that is a good point. how can you address an issue that doesn’t appear until they are about to get on the ledge?
Athena

Often times, you can’t. Hope to be in the right place at the right time is about all you can do.
come_and_see

I don’t believe one minute that online bullying alone made her kill herself.
Snickering x Hydra

I laughed.
http://www.facebook.com/unsound.enemy AngelEnemy Detrimental

Check it for all of you who dont get these situations. Look at the ages these kids tend to be. At that point in our lives nothing is more important than social acceptance. We cannot help it, we are just programmed that way. Even if you werent in the “cool” crowd you had your crew of misfits. Now with the addition of social media you have to keep in mind that bullying has not likely really really increased but rather the devastation of it has. Now-a-days it seems like you’re called out in front of the whole world. Have some empathy and try talking with the kids in your life who may be going through something like this.
NY_Mommy

Online trolls really piss me off. I always picture some over weight asshole sitting in their underwear at their computer ( in their mother’s basement) with left over fast food trash scattered around the desk needing a serious dose of Proactive. I imagine them going from site to site being an asshole while simultaneously updating their Facebook pages about how fabulous they wish their lives were.
http://www.dreamindemon.com Morbid

I would never resort to spying unless I felt it was necessary. For now, we are cool just keeping an eye on him.
Dillon_Lewandowski

I’m 15 and I’d never do that.
sam

If you are being bullied on a website, why the hell would you keep logging in? Especially when you dont know any of the people on there…. Doesn’t make sense.
Chinchillazilla

Obviously, you can speak for all teenagers.
RoxBerry

I just ignore them, don’t feel like it’s worth wasting my time on those backstabbers
captaingrumpy

My son tried to kill himself on our farm. He poked the hose from the exhaust into the car and turned it on. He knew we were home and would investigate the car noise. I know his scoutmaster had abused him,but the scout association ignored our plea because they needed more leaders. My son is ok now but a little wobbly at times. he is getting help.
christopher whiteman

the site was ASK.FM not ASK.COM
christopher whiteman

it was ASK.FM not ASK.COM get it right or you are shiyt
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1106642961 Alice Hennen

Teenagers get their panties in a twist over nothing these days. What happened to emotional resilience, defending yourself and problem solving? It’s easy to blame bullying for suicide, but more often than not there’s simply no reason for it. And that’s what is so devastating about it, you rack your brains trying to work out why they would kill themselves but you’ll never know exactly why they did it.
Even when my cousin told me she was embarrassed to be related to me because I have different views to her (and everyone should have the same views as her) it didn’t even affect me. I laughed because I know she’s a drama queen who needs attention and drama like people need oxygen. Then again I’m 23 and know better than to let trolls and drama queens get to me. Problem solving and resilience should be taught as part of personal development at schools.
Cassy_Again

I attempted suicide at 14. I took a handful of sleeping pills. I can remember the feelings and emotions like it was an hour ago. It was also not my first attempt. I started taking fists full of aspirin around age 9. This was back in the 1970s, there was no one to reach out to. The result of a suicide attempt was often a slap down by your parents and authority figures telling you how disappointed they were in you for doing that.

I guess my point is, most of you posters are full of shit. Once you’re in that black hole you seek more pain. Difficult to explain, but you want to confirm you are are loser. Doesn’t make sense, but it is what it is. Online remarks could definitely trigger someone already in a precarious emotional state to suicide.

Sixteen is legally an adult here. You can quit school and move out of your house and get a job. So, saying parents should monitor the Internet for young people of this age isn’t practical for much of the world.

Plus, you have a significant number of parents who simply don’t parent. Probably not this girl’s situation, but anyone on DD should know by now that some parents are as bad or worse as any street bully out there. And just because a home looks all roses and sunshine, doesn’t mean people are singing happy songs when behind closed doors.

But if someone is going to monitor posts, maybe it should be the parents of the people racing to kick someone when she’s down. There never seems to be any repercussions for these creeps.
newstarshipsmell

It’s a fuckin’ typo, for christsake. Morbid got it right in the writeup, and TheAlphaSoup was simply making a joke about his typo in the comment above. A joke that sailed far, far above your head apparently.

Here’s your prize, it’s in the mail:
http://www.facebook.com/Leashaness Alicia Lynee’

So the site/bullying may not be to blame here, yet the DJs are responsible for that nurse killing herself?Back & forth. It’s always these pretty teenagers too, who, if they went to any of my schools a few years back, would have been popular and never made fun of. Maybe it’s just Arizona, but usually only “ugly” kids get ragged on. This, coming from one of said ugly kids. It’s just strange to me.
TheAlphaSoup

Lol I saw his reply in my mail and I was like, “I’m not even gonna touch this one” at first. But I have to say, I lol’ed so hard at your comment newstarshipsmell
Clyde The Dog

Damn. I’m sorry about your son. The abuse he suffered is terrible, and it’s a sin you couldn’t stop it. I was trying to make a point, that not all kids are really trying to die, more of a desperate way of saying life sucks for them, no matter how small or large the problem is to them. My comment wasn’t meant to sound like I was making all attempts at teen suicide to be over small issues. Again, I’m so sorry your boy had to deal with that abuse, and then tried to kill himself. I hope the best for him and your family.
midniteshadows

OMG! I am so sorry to hear this. It’s a horrible, helpless feeling to have. My son tried in May of this year and was hospitalized. He’s doing a lot better. Please get all the services you can to help your son through this as well as you. Will keep you and yours in my prayers.

As an aside, we could use some scout leaders here. Send him on down and I’ll introduce him to my John Deere woodchipper. I’m sure the fish around these lakes here will appreciate a little extra food.
midniteshadows

What Athena said!!!!!!
midniteshadows

What Cassy said!!!!!!!!!

My first suicide attempt was at age 5. It was late at night, and I remembered thinking if I ram my head into the wall hard enough, it would kill me. So I kept running into the wall until I guess I knocked myself out.

When I was 16, I called my best friend to say goodbye and that I loved her.

She called my parents.

My mom’s sperm donor kicked in the bathroom door.

When he saw me he said, “Jesus Christ!! WTH is the matter with you?”

My Mom said, “If you want to commit suicide, do it right. Make sure you kill yourself. Dead.”

I cleaned up my cuts and bandaged them. Fortunately, I slit my wrists the wrong way.
Andyman

I was wondering that myself. It is easy for all of us to hide behind our computers so I could easily see how an ugly duckling might hurl insults at a cute teen calling her fat and ugly; just like the insult thrower is. Kind of like misery loves company. Well if it did play out like that I hope said duckling feels fucking awful for her “why don’t you go ahead and kill yourself already” comment. Kids can be ugly to each other and the internet seems to amplify that x 1000 in some cases.
http://www.truecrimereport.com CallMeMister

“Teenagers can be assholes, especially when donning the cloak of anonymity.”

Morbid, being an anonymous online asshat is not the sole domain of teenagers. I’ve meet some kinder teens online than adults. I swear, once people think they can get away with something, invariably some of them will push the envelope. Check out some of the other stories of cyberbullying and you’ll see there was at least one adult involved in the asshattery.
Michelle

seems kind of like when you go back to your abuser. you know you shouldn’t but lack the self control to do otherwise.
Michelle

I don’t agree on blaming the parent completely. We are told to let your kid define them self and become who they want to be sometimes though you have to step in and help them on the tough journey to adult hood. I particularly find it hard to believe though that some parents don’t step in when they see how mean and cruel their child is being to other people but then again some parents encourage the kids to be mean and fight. Its just a tough battle being a parent now days, but its a decision we make when we decide to have kids. I was suicidal as a child starting at age 7 but that was due to abuse and other factors. I was picked on in school and to the point of not wanting to go to school at all but that wasn’t the underlining reason why I was suicidal, in my case it had to do with my life at home more.
abbys_mom

Sadly, because of a personal situation a good friend has dealt with regarding her daughter’s suicide attempt recently, I can tell you that words alone CAN drive a teen to suicide. When you’re a teen, what others think, be it online or at school, can mean EVERYTHING. There’s no tomorrow, no “one day none of this silly stuff will matter” mentality, there’s only the here and now and the pain they feel currently for many teens suffering from very low self esteem. There isn’t always a skeleton in the closet, sometimes it is exactly what it appears to be.
TinyCyborg

she probably thought each time she went back it was going to be different, she would show them she didn’t care and finally get that self esteem boost she was seeking in the first place. Your friends and parents are going to say you’re beautiful,smart,funny, exc. because they love you, but if you can convince random strangers of your worth, people who that don’t have anything to lose by telling you the “truth”, then you’re really hot shit now! Unfortunately this plan often backfires as the internet is full of dickbags who take any opportunity to use the world’s most powerful tool as a place to shit on people and jerk off. The real problem is why does she feel so empty that she needs validation from people she’ll never know, and could very well be the exact people she wouldn’t want validation from in the first place? Going anywhere and pretty much announcing “Hey everyone, want to tell me how great I am!?” is going to spur tomato throwing.
alphatroll

Thank you for informing us exactly why your opinion is worthless, and for demonstrating exactly how stupid teenagers can be. We appreciate your valuable contribution.
Twisted1

I looked up her Ask profile. To say its just online bullying is not true. This young lady had a lot going on in her life. It’s hard for us adults to remember how everything feels as a teen. They feel everything in the moment and its always urgent. Something that to us would be stressful to them is their whole world falling apart. This is the post she did a couple weeks ago. Their were warning signs if anyone cared enough to look. This girl was desperate for love and attention but looked for it in the wrong place. Breaks my heart that when she needed someone it appears she had nowhere to really turn.
http://ask.fm/Jessicamarieee1
why are you so pissed off at everything all the damn time? thats all your statuses have been ..? well sense you asked. my brother and i don’t talk anymore he is the biggest dick and i miss him like crazy but the old him that wasn’t an asshole and complete scum. my dad yeah he ignores me like i don’t even fucking exist. i get fucked over 24/7 i have almost no friends i actually trust. my mom bitches at me for the littlest things i am basically all alone, so why wouldn’t i post my pissed off depressed status? understand.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1226226005 Krystal Roberts

Often, as was probably the case with Ryan Halligan, it isn’t until children go to such drastic lengths as killing themselves that parents actually notice there was a problem in the first place. By then, obviously, it’s too late. Those parents are usually the ones who you see tracking down bullies and/or speaking at schools on the topic. It should go without saying that being a parent is 100% the most important job one can take on. Unfortunately, and DD is a perfect example, too many parents don’t get that or refuse to take it seriously. Hence, DD exists and thrives. Sadly, it doesn’t matter if you love your kids to the moon and back the mostest, loving them doesn’t make you a good parent. All it takes is a parent who loves the shit out of their child, but, is gone all of the time trying to keep clothes on their back and a roof over their head. That parent isn’t intentionally ignoring or neglecting their child, circumstances keeps them from being able to do much more than call to say good night. The problem is, intention is irrelevant if the outcome is still neglect. Regardless of how good your intentions, your child(ren) need constant tending to. Something so simple as 5 minutes a day set aside to talk to your child can prove to be invaluable. And, it’s 5 minutes. Make them sit outside of the bathroom door while you take a shit for fuck’s sake, at least, they’ll know you care because you show it and not just say it.

BTW, I’m not speaking to any one person in particular when I say ‘you’. Ultimately, until a child is of the legal age to be considered an adult and responsible for themselves, parents are to blame for everything they do. Our children are direct reflections of who we are as parents, good, bad, and ugly. This girl, sad as it is, killed herself because her parents forgot to teach her coping skills. Somewhere along the line, mom or dad (or both) didn’t build up this girl’s self esteem and, more importantly, they failed to make sure she appreciated the value of life, especially her own.