Well, the first two paragraphs I was all "Lay off your kids already", but then in the third one I went "Oh, hey."
So now I'm reluctantly a bit more sympathetic to LW, who, unlike most parents who write this sort of letter, has a valid reason to be concerned about the kids' mental health, even absent visible symptoms of problems just now.
However, I wish Carolyn had pointed out what seems very obvious to me: having multiple family members die by suicide is traumatic, plus, that genetic predisposition to mental health issues that may lead to suicide probably didn't skip a generation. LW needs to speak to a therapist, and possibly get a referal to a psychiatrist as well if it looks like they do have some condition, such as depression or anxiety, that might be best treated with medication. Presumably they'd know if they were self-harming or thinking of suicide, so there's that, but they might not know if they're suffering from other, more subtle things... especially if everything is something everybody else in the family suffers from as well.
It's not just the daughters who are at risk.
Other than that, I think Carolyn did a good job of balancing "In this particular case, you may have a good reason for your fears" with "but seriously, not everybody thinks your idea of a fun time is all that great".
no subject
So now I'm reluctantly a bit more sympathetic to LW, who, unlike most parents who write this sort of letter, has a valid reason to be concerned about the kids' mental health, even absent visible symptoms of problems just now.
However, I wish Carolyn had pointed out what seems very obvious to me: having multiple family members die by suicide is traumatic, plus, that genetic predisposition to mental health issues that may lead to suicide probably didn't skip a generation. LW needs to speak to a therapist, and possibly get a referal to a psychiatrist as well if it looks like they do have some condition, such as depression or anxiety, that might be best treated with medication. Presumably they'd know if they were self-harming or thinking of suicide, so there's that, but they might not know if they're suffering from other, more subtle things... especially if everything is something everybody else in the family suffers from as well.
It's not just the daughters who are at risk.
Other than that, I think Carolyn did a good job of balancing "In this particular case, you may have a good reason for your fears" with "but seriously, not everybody thinks your idea of a fun time is all that great".