‘Terrified’ Dad Asks for Help After 7-Year-Old Son Threatened to Kill Him in His Sleep

It popped up in the popular subreddit r/Parenting, where parents often come to ask for advice, share funny stories, or vent about ongoing issues with their kids. But in this particular post, u/shadowbethoven had a much darker tale than others are used to seeing.

"Tonight, I fell asleep, face down, on my son's bed," the post began. "I wake up slightly to a pressure in my neck and his little voice saying, 'I'm going to jump on the chair and kill you.'"

As he quickly woke up, he started to realize what was happening.

"The pressure was the chair leg [my son] dragged from the other side of the room and put on my NECK," the dad explained. "And he was CLIMBING HIS NIGHTSTAND when I woke up."

According to the dad, his 7-year-old was about to jump from the nightstand to the bed, putting 50 lbs. of pressure on his neck because he "fell asleep" in his son's bed "trying to read to him."

At the end of the post, the dad wrote, "I'm terrified."

"I asked his mom to take him for the night. I have other children and am terrified [for them] as well," he added. "Is my 7 year old insane? What do I do?"

Many people wondered if the boy had been influenced in some way — either by a show he'd been watching or something he'd recently read.

"If he has tablet access, check the history and see what he’s been watching," urged one person, who noted that it was "a very specific way to kill someone."

"Yeah, my immediate concern is to ask what has influenced this," another person wrote. "Has he watched this somewhere, or [seen] something violent? TV can often normalize behavior we find shocking and children don't have the context to understand if an action is acceptable or not … "

"What goes into the brain from the eyes seeing can't come back out," another person warned. "Got to be so cautious of content they are exposed to."

"Treat this as an emergency," one person wrote. "I would get a psychological assessment right away."

"Yeah, I’d be contacting a professional right away – as well as getting a lock for my bedroom door and for all the other kids' bedroom doors," said someone else, who called the whole thing absolutely "terrifying."

One person even suggested calling 988, the suicide and crisis hotline that is often used for psychological triage.

"Use a phone (cell or landline) with the same area code as you live if possible," the commenter urged. "They will send a mobile crisis unit if available or otherwise tell you what you need to do."

"Have a long talk with him about why he did that and what he thinks 'kill you' means, what being dead means, and why he would want you to be that," one person wrote.

"Yeah, I’d focus here on what is 'dead' and what that means," said someone else.

"I’d be careful," one Reddit user wrote. "Giving him a clear understanding of death may provide him with a clearer understanding of why he wants you that way. Let the professionals take over here."

He assured people that he and his ex-wife (the boy's mother) have a good co-parenting relationship, and that he made her aware of the situation as soon as it happened. They also haven't hesitated about seeking professional help.

"We are working to find a good therapist since the one we went to (recommending time-out safe words) was clearly too vanilla," the dad explained.

He also provided some more context about what happened after the death threat.

"His mom says that when they were driving home, he was laughing and joking in the car," he continued. "This tells me he has a) some sort of oppositional defiance disorder, or b) has perverted the reward benefits of negative attention, or c) is a full-fledged sociopath."

"To those offering contact advice and reccomendations, thank you," he continued.
"I'm using the crisis chat and calling his therapist at 7:30 am, as soon as their office opens."

For now, the dad has separated his son from the rest of the children, and he is hoping that professional intervention will help.

According to the Associated Press, a 10-year-old boy from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was charged after shooting and killing his mother on November 21 after she allegedly refused to buy him a virtual reality (VR) headset.

At first, the 10-year-old told police that the shooting was accidental, and that it happened while he was playing with the handgun and "twirling" it around in his hand. But he later changed his story, admitting that he intentionally went into his mother's bedroom to retrieve the handgun, walked downstairs to the basement where she was doing laundry, and aimed the gun at his mother before pulling the trigger.

Acccording to family members, the boy has a history of mental health issues. He is now being charged as an adult for first-degree reckless homicide, and is currently being held in a juvenile detention center as he awaits his trial.