What to do when you hear your child say “I will kill myself”

Hearing your child that they want to hurt themselves can be really shocking to a parent. But this is a good time to pay attention to what your child says and help them.

Yesterday, a good friend of mine mentioned how her 4-year-old and 2 years old were saying out of blue “I will kill myself” and my heart just sank because this is not normal. Yes, kids pick up interesting things from others or from TV or any different sources, but when a child starts to verbalize these self-harming words we need to pay attention.

I believe that every child is a gift from God. I also believe that God’s plan for our life is perfect. We’re placed here on the earth for a mighty purpose. This is why our adversary, Satan will do anything to stop us from reaching our purpose and destiny and it starts at a very young age. I believe the day we are born, Satan assigns a demon to our life to do everything possible so that we never reach our purpose.

You have to recognize that this is a spiritual battle and deal with it accordingly.

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rules of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”   – Eph 6:12

We have to learn to always identify what are we really dealing with.

My barometer is this verse: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.” – John 10:10

When your child says self-harming words, you have to look at the core of the problem. This is directed by the spirit of premature death. Satan’s ultimate goal is to kill us and it starts early with exposing kids to these ideas and when they start speaking any self-harming words, these words become alive.

Whenever something is on my heart,  I pray about it.

My question was: “God, what’s the best approach to correct a child, without traumatizing them? How to commend to the evil spirit without scaring them?”

And when you ask God questions … He will respond. (Jer 33:3)

So what should you do when you hear your child say “I will kill myself” or “I would rather kill myself” or “I wanna kill myself”?

The reason we want to use Bible verses because Jesus always confronted Satan and his demons with the word of God. The Word of God is THE weapon against the enemy’s attacks. Use it, just as Jesus thought us how to. With the Word of God, you’re attacking these demonic spirits, and trust me, they know it. And at the name of Jesus, they have no other option than to back off.

Depending on your child’s age and understanding you can also:

1. Explain to him/her the power of his/her words. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit” Proverbs 18:21. Teaching children how powerful their words are is important as the spoken word is extremely powerful.
2. If the child is at an age that has the capacity of understanding how to pay attention to their thoughts and use “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.” – John 10:10 as a measuring tool, then take the time to explain to them how to pay attention to their thoughts. If the thought is “steal, kill and destroy” that’s more likely thoughts from the devil and those should not be entertained. At this stage teach your child how to speak back to Satan with Bible verses.

Parenting tip:

Start your day by covering your children with the blood of Jesus. Oh, for so long I didn’t know how important this is. Just as the Israelite’s children were protected by the blood of the lamb sprinkled on their doors, how much more protection is the precious blood of Jesus, the perfect lamb.

Ask God to order your children’s guardian angels to protect them. “Take heed that you do not despise one of those little ones, for  I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” – Matt 18:10 

Often before my feet hits the floor, I start with a prayer like this:

“Good morning God. Thank you for another beautiful day, for the gift of life. Thank you for your love and faithfulness. God, I cover my children (I name each of them), my husband, my parents, and myself with the blood of Jesus. God, I ask for your protection over my family and I ask that you will order your angels to protect my children (I name each of them), family, and myself from all harm. In Jesus’ precious name” Amen.

Of course, this is not the only prayer I pray, but for years now, I wouldn’t start my day without asking for God’s protection and specifically covering us with the blood of Jesus and asking God to order His angels to protect us. “You have not because you do not ask.” James 4:2b so let’s bring our requests before God each morning with expectations, knowing that he will answer it.