11 yo writing dark poetry, pls help!
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11 yo writing dark poetry, pls help!
| Tue, 05-27-2008 - 11:39am |
Last night my son asked for help on a school project for which he had to make a small booklet of poetry.

Please don't assume you're doing something wrong just because your son has some dark stuff he needs to get out. It's hard to know from a single post if he's really depressed, but I can tell you that most kids, especially bright, introspective kids have some dark thoughts. Poetry can be a wonderful outlet for rage, sadness, bad moods, hateful feelings, etc--writing about pain doesn't mean he's experiencing it all the time.
Are there other signs you're seeing in addition to the poetry? He may have asked for your help with the project because he needed an excuse to show you what he'd written so that you would know what he was feeling. Ask him directly about that. If you feel he's really depressed, make an appointment with a counselor.
You can try asking his school guidance office for their input, but I wouldn't have much faith in them unless your counselors are the exception to the lousy-middle-school-guidance-office rule.
He has been through a lot, from what you say, but this doesn't mean he won't weather it well or that his poetry paints a picture of his entire life. Kids this age are really volatile, and sometimes those poems are just a snapshot of a feeling that vanishes as soon he puts it on paper. So dig a little, but don't beat yourself up. That won't help anybody.
I am the mom of a 12 year old and a middle school teacher. Your son asked for help, let your read his poetry, and accepted a compliment from you. He wrote about darkness and depression, but trusts his mom enough to
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