Normal? Problematic?

[Anonymous]

10 year old DS is a completely typical kid. Does well in school, enjoys a sport, has friends. I found what looks like a story he wrote about someone who went into an alley to smoke with his girlfriend and then robbed a convenience store with 2 friends to get the loot and killed the cashiers. It freaked me out! Am I overreacting? How should I handle or does it need a response from me?

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of reasonable explanations for this, but why not just ask him about it?

Could be inspired by the books/comics he is reading, movies he saw, things other kids are talking about at lunch, etc.

[Anonymous]

Yes, you are. Perhaps the child likes to write fiction. Mine does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10 year old DS is a completely typical kid. Does well in school, enjoys a sport, has friends. I found what looks like a story he wrote about someone who went into an alley to smoke with his girlfriend and then robbed a convenience store with 2 friends to get the loot and killed the cashiers. It freaked me out! Am I overreacting? How should I handle or does it need a response from me?

does he watch any shows or movies where he would see this stuff? Or does he watch the news?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10 year old DS is a completely typical kid. Does well in school, enjoys a sport, has friends. I found what looks like a story he wrote about someone who went into an alley to smoke with his girlfriend and then robbed a convenience store with 2 friends to get the loot and killed the cashiers. It freaked me out! Am I overreacting? How should I handle or does it need a response from me?

does he watch any shows or movies where he would see this stuff? Or does he watch the news?

He does not watch the news. He doesn't watch any shows or movies where he would see this stuff; however, although he does not have a phone, several friends do so I do not know what he sees through that.

Mostly I think it's probably ok and just an active imagination, but it's so outside the realm of what I'm used to from him I was taken aback. I saw it today after he left for school so haven't had a chance to ask. Knowing my kid, he will probably just say it's nothing, so I wasn't sure if I should leave it at that or probe further.

[Anonymous]

Well, ask him. It's not what he says, but how he says it, that will clue you in. Doesn't look like a big deal, OP.

[Anonymous]

OP your kid has an imagination. Mine is the same. Sometimes fears make their way into these kinds of stories sometimes its just a way of trying out ideas. Sign him up for a writing workshop or something and stop worry, its fine.

[Anonymous]

Agreed, you are overreacting. I wrote stories about wild animals attacking at about the same age - super gory. (I'd been reading Call of the Wild and other Jack London books, which feature a lot of htat. My parents freaked out and it was a whole thing. I pretty much stopped writing after that.

[Anonymous]

Agreed, you are overreacting. I wrote stories about wild animals attacking at about the same age - super gory. (I'd been reading Call of the Wild and other Jack London books, which feature a lot of that.) My parents freaked out and it was a whole thing. I pretty much stopped writing after that.

[Anonymous]

Video games. i would be upset too.

[Anonymous]

Were you snooping? Where did you find his story?

[Anonymous]

I had a friend who wrote crazy Stephen King like horror stories when we were tweens. She didn’t turn out to be a psychopath She was just really into fiction writing. It is cool that he is creative!

[Anonymous]

I wrote a story about three-way sex when I was about 12. No internet, no cable channels, no sexual abuse - just a very very active imagination and sexual curiosity. I think it’s normal to use writing as an outlet to explore dark, weird, and confusing stuff.

[Anonymous]

Lol. I wrote a story about a bunch of high school students being murdered when I was 9. I am a mom/vegetarian/pet lover- no violent tendencies, just had an active imagination and I read a few horror novels.

[Anonymous]

My daughter went through a stage like that- scared me half to death. She was mirroring some of the things she was reading. I paid more attention to what she was reading after I read her story.