Given the circumstances of this book, it is difficult to see how they woud not have seen Bernie’s problems. However, I think it is normal for parents to think that their children could not possibly be “one of those.” Knowing when a friend or family member is hurting is sometimes very difficult as we all seem to want to hide our hurts, somehow, believing that it is a weakness or even shameful, to have them, First, it takes close contact and sometimes those suffering things such as depression, deliberately limit that so they are not “found out.” Then, it takes awareness of the symptoms and not everyone is well versed in those.