Really didn't know what to put as the subject here.
A friend of mine - not a close friend to be honest, but someone I knew through my DD and liked very much - died very suddenly on Sunday. She has a husband and three children age 17, 14 and 12. The 12 year old is my DD's friend. They were close at primary school but started different secondary schools last September. We live in the same village which is quite a close-knit community.
They have no other family and, as I'm not currently working, I've been around and able to offer support.
I'm switching between spending time with the youngest child - talking about her mum, how she feels about going back to school, making contact with a local bereavement support charity etc - and trying to give some emotional and practical help to the dad.
Tomorrow I've offered to sit down with him and draw up a list of everything that needs to be done, along with some sort of timeframe, so that he can think about who he wants to involve in various decisions, what tasks he does and doesn't want to do himself and that sort of thing. This evening, he felt rather as if he was drowning in decisions and visitors for his kids so I hope this will help a little.
I guess I'm just looking for any tips as to how I can help him. Any big dos or don'ts? And any advice about how to support the children, especially the youngest who I know best? As I said there are no grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins.
Thank you
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Bereavement
Trying to support family friends after sudden death of the mother
6 replies
BerkshireMum · 23/01/2013 22:58
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