Please Read If You Lost A Parent As A Child.

[katie_fa]

I lost my daddy to cancer a while ago and I really miss him. I decided to do a project on coping with the loss of a parent at school and I was wondering if anyone on here could please fill out a questionnaire to help me out. It's 13 questions and with them I am hoping to understand the stages of grief not only for my project but also for personal reasons. I have attached it and if it's too personal you don't have to do it, just take a look at it. Thank you o for reading this:)

questionnaire.doc

[shubom]

A child? Being how old? youth, teens, 20's? Also where do we send it too?

[Steve]

id be happy to fill it out. i lost my mom at 17. need to know where to send it though.

[Guest Guest_Justine_*]

Below I have tried to respond to your questionaire.

Let me explain a bit as well. I lost my month just after my 18th birthday. She was a single mother raising me and my sisters. I reaction was shock and then stepping up to the plate to figure out what needed to happen to my sisters and myself. "Talking about it"?- There is the talking "about it" and there there is dealing with your feelings. Both you do the best you can. About 6 or 7 years later, I went through a divorce which got me to counseling. My lifestyle at the time my mom died was change dramatically any way due to going to college. In the end, I didn't have the full college experience that I had thought I would. (Worries about money and taking care of younger siblings played in unexpectantly as a result of my mom's death.) Coping with loss has be a gradual experience. It will be nearly 25 years next year. There have been major moments of my life that I have missed with my mom: graduations from college, my wedding day, graduation for graduate school, the birth of my children, and being there for other heartbreaks that it is always nice to have a mom there to tell you everything is going to be ok. My sister(s) have been a help for me. We have all supported each other more than we probably would have had my mom not died. The hardest part of the grieving process has been not having that friend whom I could go to about anything. The one who knows you better than you know yourself. The event has effected me less over time; however as I approach the age she was when she died, it is having more an effect on me that ever before - in part, I would hate leaving my kids to death too early. I do have some preserved memories but those pass with time. Prodominately, I have never lost the feeling of knowing how much she loved me. The markers that bring back memories now are her birthday and major life events that I had thought my mom would be here for.

Hope that helps.

[Guest Guest]

I'd like to thank everyone that sent me their answers and also thank everyone that showed interest. My email adress is katie_fa@hotmail.com and I'd love to have more responses. In response to Shubom, I would say anyone under 18 years old. Thank you.