Originally Posted by Ametrine
Originally Posted by kelly0523
Good article, Ametrine, thanks for posting!

You're welcome. I know it's common sense, but still thought it would help.

DS just told me a fellow student's dad died. (Unrelated to the tornado.) He said,

"Mom, people are like flowers."
"How so?" said I.
"Because they are born, become apples, bananas and oranges, then die like adults."
"What makes you say that?" said I.
"Because _____(child's name) dad died.

I was unprepared for this conversation. I was making dinner and he was making a robot. I questioned him on whether he was confused and it was his schoolmate's grandfather who died, but he was positive it was her dad. He told me she wants to "talk-talk-talk" about it.
I've told him whenever she brings it up to tell her he's sorry and to give her a hug.

I've recently interacted with _____'s mom and had no idea her husband just died.

The child's father may or may not have actually died. The reason I say this is because one of my DD's classmates came up to me at school and told me that she was really upset that her grandfather had recently passed away. I am fairly good friends with this family (mother) so I expressed my condolences to the child and asked her how she was doing. She told me that she was in "deep mourning" over his passing, so I told her that I understood and if she wanted to talk about it she could. Later that day I called her mother to express my condolences and to let her know if she needed someone to watch her younger children during the visitation or funeral that I could help her out. The mom was absolutely stunned when I called, that her daughter was so upset and expressed that she was in "deep mourning" over the death as she had never even met her grandfather (the mom and dad were estranged). Can you say awkward?

At any rate, the information your son is passing onto you may be accurate as to how he heard it, but if you just spoke to the child's mother and nothing appeared to be wrong, then I would have to say that you might want to question the accuracy of the information passed on by the child.

That being said, I think you gave your son good advice on how to handle the child when she wants to "talk talk talk" about it.