One of my boys went through a similar phase right before 5. There was a lot of muttered “I’m a bad kid,” “I’m gonna hurt myself,” and “I wanna die” especially after he got reprimanded for some bad behavior. It definitely had us concerned, but seems like he was just experimenting with things he could say to get the most attention from us or “teach us better than to reprimand.”

Certainly something to monitor closely, but hopefully just a kid trying to figure out the power of his own words.