10
Loading video...
By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
When John Tran’s three sons told him they had seen “human bones” floating in the water during a tour of the Saigon River in Vietnam, he was quick to dismiss their claims as the result of overactive imaginations.
But then Tran saw something on the news that made his blood run cold.
Tran was born in the U.S. but currently lives in Ho Chi Minh City with his partner, Linh, and their three sons, triplets Jayden, Jayce and Jaymes, 6.
Read More on Family & Parenting
“They are very observant and inquisitive boys,” Tran told Newsweek.
Children have vivid imaginations, which can make it tempting for parents to dismiss some of their more unusual observations. According to Vinay Saranga, MD, a child psychiatrist and founder of Saranga Comprehensive Psychiatry, that's often a mistake.
Saranga said parents should resist the urge to immediately dismiss unusual claims and instead "stay calm" and ask follow-up questions to determine whether there is any truth to what a child is saying.
"Ask them to tell you more about what they saw without leading them, but giving them the chance to explain the situation in their own words," he said.
Saranga added that parents should focus not only on what a child is describing but also on how they are behaving.
"Do they appear scared? Do they appear nervous or generally shaken by what they saw? ... Or are they laughing and being goofy as they recall what happened?" he said, noting that "often times, focusing on their emotions can shed more light on the situation than what is actually being said."
If there is "even the slightest feeling that there is a genuine safety concern," Saranga recommends investigating further or contacting the proper authorities. He said doing so not only protects safety but also shows children "that they have a voice and their concerns matter." Even when a child's story turns out to be imagined, parents should explain the importance of honesty "in a way that doesn't shame the child and make them not want to speak up in the future."
...
It's a lesson Tran learned during a recent family outing.
“We were on a boat having dinner, which takes you around the Saigon River,” Tran said. “The boys were having fun, laughing and joking, when a bag floated by. Suddenly one of them said there were human bones in the bag.”
Tran almost immediately laughed off what seemed like an outlandish claim.
“I dismissed it as kids being kids,” he said.
A few months later, however, Tran was stunned to read a news report about a woman's body that had been found inside a sack floating along the Saigon River near Hiep Binh Ward. Authorities later arrested the victim's husband in connection with the killing after identifying the remains, according to Vietnamese newspaper Tuổi Trẻ.
The report immediately brought his sons' comments back to mind. However, Tran acknowledged that any link between what the boys claimed to have seen months earlier and the July 2026 discovery is highly improbable given the river's currents and the amount of time that had elapsed.
“I don’t know if it’s related or just a coincidence, but my boys said they were sure there was a body inside,” Tran said. “I asked them how they knew, and they couldn’t explain it. They just said, ‘Daddy, I told you so.’”
The boys haven't mentioned the incident since, but it has stayed with Tran. While he believes the two events were almost certainly unrelated, the coincidence made him reflect on how quickly he had dismissed his sons' observations.
“This has definitely made me listen to them more and not just write things off as kids saying far-fetched things,” he said. “Whether it was connected or not, it reminded me that I should pay more attention when my kids are trying to tell me something.”
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Rebecca Flood and Emma Lee-Sang
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines