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11 year old daughter attempted self harm

Discussion forum for parents in Australia

11 year old daughter attempted self harm

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twang

11 year old daughter attempted self harm

1. i have two children one 11 the other 28, my daughter makes me laugh all the time simply because she says the most random things

2. i do arty things like colour and nails to try to relive stress 

3. I found reach out as i was looking for advise about my daughter on the internet 

4. patience, and then some more patience and a lot of understanding 

5.  unfortunately i only get one weekend out of two due to work, so the fact that im not working lol  

 

the reason for this post is the fact that my daughter contacted me at work this evening and told me that she had had an argument with her dad and during this she had told him that she hated him, after this while in the shower she was feeling really bad that she had said it to him and in her words " the little devil on her shoulder told her to do it to make her feel better " thankfully she didn't actually hurt herself, due to trying to use an object to self harm that didn't work, but she had a red mark where she attempted it.... i was horrified, i came home straight away and after speaking with her, trying not to show my horror at what she had tried to do she told me that after doing it she felt worse because she knew she shouldnt of done it, im just worried that this is the start of something as she has done things like bitten the side of her finger nails until they have bled in the past...... im at a loss of what to do and of saying the wrong thing to her, you never think a 11 year old girl would do something like that.......

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Andrea-RO

Re: 11 year old daughter attempted self harm

Hey @twang

 

I am really sorry to hear that both you and your daughter went through such a scary and traumatic situation. It can be extremely stressful for everybody involved when a family member self-harms. Because your daughter is very young, and has tried to hurt herself in a particularly dangerous way, I really strongly advise that you get in contact with your local doctor, and discuss options of professional support - like seeing a psychologist. 


I also wanted to check in with how you and your daughter's father were going emotionally at the moment as well. Like I mentioned above, it can be extremely stressful and draining to have such a scary situation occur, and it can make us as parents feel powerless, or unable to protect our child. It's really important that when you've experienced something like this, you have someone to talk it through with.Have you accessed professional supports for yourself before?