In class before we left on our turkey break, Mr.Ross read to us a story of a mother who's son committed suicide. She continued on telling the story of how she found two Dungeons & Dragons books in the stack that he used to boost himself to the rope. So there for she blames Dungeons & Dragons for the death of her son, and continues on to clam that it is a colt and a good parents so not let there children play this game or any others like it. We were instructed to write a response to her story and thoughts.
First off I would like to extend my deepest regards to you and your loss that you have endured, it truly is tragic to lose a loved one especially a son and to such a terrible death. My deepest sorrow for you and your loss. Although it is tragic and shocking, I do believe you have taken this Dungeons & Dragons opinions to an extreme level. I really do not believe this fantasy roll play game is what caused your son to commit suicide, I personally have never played it before. Although I have not played this particular game I have played many other roll playing games and billions of fiction/fantasy games, and I have no depressed feeling or any want to end my life.
I do believe that the main reason that your son could have committed suicide is because of the controlling attitude you have. You display this attitude in your writing, you erg people (parents) to take control of there kids lives, to know who they are friends with, what they do, how they do it, when they do it, how much they do it. Personally I think that this is a major problem with parents today not just you in particular. I truly believe that some parents do not let there children have basically a "life". This in my opinion depresses kids and really kills there childhood and ultimately runs them to things like cults, drug, booze, and all that jazz. I mean don't get me wrong I think there needs to be supervision, rules, and consequences but only to a certain degree.
I also believe that your controlling way of parenting drove your son to this game to find friends and just have fun. Then again who is to say that he ever played the game? You said your self you kept a close eye on him and what he did, so when would he have played it? Also he could have just had the books because it had "cool" pictures or he wanted to draw a dragon. Did you ever think that he was just another creative teenager? Maybe your controlling approach crushed his creative spirit?
Then again I don't want it to seem like I think it is all your fault and there is nothing good about you, because in reality he had to have had some emotional or mental problems that drove him to the action he took. I just deeply believe that a controlling parent would not have helped the situation, and based on the reaction you took to Dungeons & Dragons it seems that you just want to take control and get ride of the game all together. Which if you think about it is absurd that would be like banning Monopoly. Why would you do something like that?
As a suggestion to parents who read this and thought her article was scary and want to monitor what there children do, this is what I suggest.
1) Do it with your child. like this game, if it interests your child play it with him for a while if your satisfied and he is then your all set. If you don't think its appropriate then you can ban him/her from playing it. Just keep in mind its his choice your just there to see if it is a safe game for him to play or get involved in.
2) Don't over react, talk to your kids
In conclusion I would again like to extend my deepest sorrow to you and your loss. Along with that I would like to say quite bluntly that you are wrong about Dungeons & Dragons being the cause of your sons death. Finally I would like to thank you for showing me that my mom isn't the only controlling parent out there.
much support and thanks
Jason
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