To prevent child suicides, parents should not reproach children if they stay in their room or don’t join in family gatherings, and instead show them that home is a place where they can feel safe. When

hasnt she got it the wrong way round? That if you communicate with your children well from a young age, spend quality time with them, show them love and affection and don't send them off to juku from birth, they are less likely to lock themselves in their rooms, refuse to join in family events, and try to kill themselves?

Just a thought...

Parents should be doing this all along, don't wait 'till something happens to become an "active listener". My wife said it best, "children should know they are loved"

No. It's not as simple as this, and to suggest it is isn't helping the problem in the slightest. It's irresponsible of 'a member of education ministry’s council on survey studies regarding child suicide prevention' to come out and say this.

To imply that this issue is a 'home' issue and can be prevented by better parenting just defies belief. Sure it's part of it, but how about the issue of children feeling safe at school? How about teachers being active listeners? How about head teachers and BoEs taking the issue of bullying seriously? How about schools create an environment where all students feel they can speak up against bullies?

Then there's the issue of how suicide is represented in popular culture. Maybe child suicides can be reduced if there are fewer manga that contain stories and depictions of children jumping in front of trains.

It just annoys me when people in positions of authority come out and trivialize an issue, because it gives excuses to people who should be making proactive steps to instead just ignore the issue and continue thinking they are devoid of any responsibility.

Lol, "counselor", yet when a bullying reports come in her way, the first thing that come to this person's mind is probably "Harden the beep up! being bullied is important for your character growth! etc.". It's sad that the culture speak "against bullying" out loud, but they support it in their heart. The Japanese honne and tatemae.

Tanukiponpon- excellent point.

When that happens, devote yourself to being an active listener. When children feel, ‘Mom and dad are trying to understand me,’ it leads to trust in their parents.

to do that, mom and dad should not have to work 10-12 days 6 days a week. otherwise, when are they going to have the time to listen to their children and build a relationship with them in the first place?

Ditch the TV and spend quality time with the kids.

Sakanaka-san is quite correct. Listening and understanding are good medicine.

And to compound the problem, mum and dad are trying to deal with the workplace bullying they themselves are experiencing .