My 10 year old son is starting to go through puberty. He is very emotional and he is what I would consider overdramatic at times. Lately when he gets angry with me or is having a bad day, he will say things like, "I wish I could just fall asleep and never wake up," or "I want to kill myself."

He shows no signs of depression and is a generally very healthy and normal kid, but it upsets me that he says these kinds of things. I've tried to explain to him that those are very harsh things to say and it makes me worried when he says them. I don't know whether he just wants to express how upset he is or if he is just using those phrases as a way to get back at me since he feels powerless when he gets in trouble for poor behavior.

I'm just looking for opinions on what you would say to try to stop this behavior, as I don't feel like it's healthy.