How many parents out there chronically think about killing their children?

I was just reading another sad story about a mother who seems to have killed her 3 children. I can’t recount how many stories like this we’ve seen over the years. Whether it’s parents drowning their kids, strangling their kids, shooting their kids or whatever it seems to be a “thing” that a lot of humans are capable of. Sure enough, some of these humans become parents and eventually act it out.

Don’t worry: You can skip to the questions at the end.. I just have lots on my mind about this topic as I’ve thought about it before:

The life of the lady in that article I imagine is about to turn way more miserable than it has been. Whatever feelings of guilt, shame, or whatever chronic bad feelings she had before, well, she just added 3 new massive ones. All her freedoms will be removed, she’s probably going to have ptsd symptoms, get drugged up by doctors and receive a hell of a lot of counselling sessions and examinations outside of her control.. Really seems like things would have been better for her had she sought help in advance.

It all makes me wonder why people like this don’t come forward sooner. I highly doubt it was the first time she had such thoughts. I make that assumption based on feelings of suicide that nearly everyone admits to having imagined and considered at some point how they might facilitate it. Not only that, but how people sometimes imagine how they might break into a bank or store or how they might hurt someone who upsets them or whatever. Humans are problem solvers after all. We think of a problem, then our brains calculate ways to solve them. Even if they aren’t real problems and even if we never intend on actually acting on them.

But every now and then we have some people who think about it a little more. They talk about it with friends, they acquire things to make it easier, they REALLY plan how to bring a thing like suicide, murder, or some other crime into their reality. Shouldn’t this be an early sign to an otherwise healthy person that maybe they’re obsessing over something they need help with? To anyone who hears this person talking about the topic a little much.. shouldn’t it be a sign to them to intervene and suggest the person get help with it before they act on it?

Tough question time:
Have you ever had thoughts about harming your children?
Do you know any parents who might one day resort to harming their children?
How would you treat someone who seems like a potential risk to their kids?
If you can sympathize with the parents in these articles, how might you get help to prevent similar consequences for yourself?