5th Grader Killed Himself After Losing Chess Match

[Rainman]

After a recess chess match, the loser a 5th grader upset that he'd been beaten went straight to a window and before anyone could guess what he was up to, dove out headfirst. The 25 foot dive didn't kill him instantly though. He died several hours later in a hospital.

Dumont boy, 10, jumped out window after losing chess match during recess, police say | NJ.com

The 5th grade lunch aide said the boy, after losing, asked his opponent, "Do you want me to do something drastic?" Minutes later, the student, now crying, wrote a note and handed it to the opponent, instructing the classmate not to read it until he reached the cafeteria.

 

[Patrick]

That's really tragic. I'd think that there should have been some noticable signs of psychological problems in the child before this happened. Parents and teachers really need to pay more attention to their kids.

 

[Gabe]

A sad story, but I feel there is so much pressure to win and succeed that children need to learn that losing is also part of life. How humanity is developing is that if you don't get an A then you have failed, or if you lose you have failed. Learning to deal with this is hard, but real. I know when I was at summer school, we were discussing grades and I said I would be lucky to get a B and he said, 'That's a fail, only A's count," and they will do what it takes to get an A even if they don't understand the subject.

 

[Rosyrain]

This is such a sad story, and such a young child none the less. There had to be something underlying which would have made him do this, and not just losing a chess match. What 5th grader thinks about ending their own life? They have not even begun to experience life yet. It would be interesting to dig into his home life and what his parents are like.

 

[hellonamesdan]

This is so sad. The fact that the boy even had access to a window with a big enough opening for him to fit through and jump is a huge problem. You're telling me that no one noticed that this kid was upset and that maybe he should be watched? Sorry but if I'm in charge of kids and I notice one is really upset, you give the attention they need so that stuff like this doesn't happen!

 

[thegrey1]

Poor kid! I don't know anything about his home life, but I suspect he wasn't necessarily a walking advertisement for Prozac. He was probably a quiet kid who didn't cause any concern, so nobody thought he would do anything like that. Anyway it's way too early to be casting aspersions on his family. I feel really bad for all of them.

 

[Nate]

I heard about that because I know someone who lives close to Dumont. I just can't imagine the anger and/or sadness that kid must have been feeling to do that. I feel bad for the family.

 

[missbishi]

What a sad story. I wonder what was really happening? It doesn't seem like a case of "pushy parenting" at all but it does look like this boy had some prior issues. I am surprised that no adults picked this up though.

 

[JoanMcWench]

The honest truth is this kid probably had emotional issues & would have attempted this with or without the chess game. It's a sad thing when people in a person's life were unable to identify these issues before it's too late. I feel terrible for his family.

 

[FuZyOn]

It's really sad, but the chess match was probably only the tipping point for him. He probably had a lot of problems at home or was depressed, no one in their right mind would do something so drastic after a simple game.
I wish kids were better at decision making and also better at talking about their problems with an adult or conselour.