15 September 2023 , 19:32
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A father has been left disgusted and furious after her daughter came home with an upsetting Father's Day present from her teacher.
The gift was a printed activity dice, offering options that claimed to cheer up dads when they were in a bad mood. One of the options was "a bullet [to] take when all else fails". Father Trent Howard said he was "disgusted" that his six-year-old daughter was given the item and it was the worst gift the father of two has ever received. The family have complained to the primary school over the gift that "promotes suicide."
One of the options was 'a bullet [to] take when all else fails' (Nine WS)He told 9NEWS: "To create this and distribute this, disgusting. 'If you've had enough, shoot yourself', what else [could that be interpreted to] say? I have a weird sense of humour, [but] that's not part of any sense of humour to anybody." Mr Howard's wife, Renea Howard, said the teacher told her it was meant to be taken as a joke: "They wanted to be funny, that was my interpretation of what the teacher had said to me. It wasn't funny. It's really not appropriate for kids to be given that kind of topic in a joking manner without any support around it."
Psychologists warn we need to be careful about the language we use around children. Bailey Bosch said the gift could be damaging to both parents and students. She said to the news channel: "Children can take things very literally, it can play on their minds, they might not have the language to articulate what's distressing them. Let's also remember there are adults around that could be completely triggered by some words such as bullets or death."
In a statement, the Department of Education told 9News that the activity was "clearly not thought through" and "showed a serious lack in judgment." The school has since apologised to the parents and has vowed to never do the activity again. Mr Howard said: "We need change everywhere. In this society. We have suicide in our families. It's not cool. It needs to stop."
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Over 3,000 deaths by suicide occur each year in Australia, which is an average of about nine deaths per day. Sadly, suicide rates have almost doubled in young males over the past 30 years - from 16.8 to 32.9 per 100,000 in Australia and from 10.1 to 19.0 in England & Wales. Overall rates have changed little in young females.
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