Helping a friend who has lost a child

Heather Spohr, Mom & Blogger, shares advice from experience after losing a child of her own, on how to help and support someone after they have lost a child
How To Help A Friend Who Has Lost A Child
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Helping a friend who has lost a child

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If you have a friend who has lost a child, the worst thing you can do is nothing. Even if you feel like you possibly say anything that, the right thing. The only wrong thing you can say is nothing. Reach out. Tell them you are sorry. Tell them you miss their child. Tell them it is so unfair. But staying quiet out of fear is the absolute wrong thing. Your friend needs you. They will never forget that you were not there for them when they needed you. So having been through it, I still don´t know what the right thing to say is. No one knows what to say. There is no making it better. There is only saying that you are sorry and that you are empathizing and that you wish with all your hear that things were different. If your friend has lost a child and you want to do something to help, step in with childcare if there are other children involved. Organize other friends to bring food. Help with funeral arrangements if that is possible. Offer concrete and tangible things that you can do for your friends because they are going to be so focused on their loss and just taking a breath that they are not going to know what they need and they are going to need a lot but they are not going to know how to ask for it. They are not going to want to burden anybody. So just take it upon yourself. Be proactive. Reach out. Give them specific things that you can do and then do them.

Heather Spohr, Mom & Blogger, shares advice from experience after losing a child of her own, on how to help and support someone after they have lost a child

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Heather Spohr

Blogger & Mom

Heather Spohr is a writer and philanthropist who blogs at the award-winning blog, "The Spohrs Are Multiplying". She is a top fundraiser for the March of Dimes and the President and Co-Founder of “Friends Of Maddie,” a charitable organization that supports the families of critically ill babies in Neonatal Intensive Care Units. She has spoken at numerous conferences, on CNN, and before members of Congress.

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