What can we do for family with seriously ill parent?

[concernedandworried]

One of the families in my child’s school is going through a difficult time, with one parent hospitalised for serious illness. The outcome seems very uncertain and the child, who is in my child’s class, is very upset. Our class has sent flowers to the hospital, and we are also organising a hamper with various treats such as vouchers for treatments, candles and the like. I wanted to see if anyone has a suggestion for how to offer more hands on help? I feel that offers to help usually end up being vague and difficult for the person concerned to follow up on - ‘call me if you need anything’ may be a sincere offer but it’s certainly not easy to do once you really need help, so as a class we’d like to offer something more tangible.

Could we maybe offer play dates and fun treats for the child? I’m sure the child would enjoy some distraction in the company of his friends. How could we make this offer more tangible and easy for them to take up? Or do you have any other suggestions?

Many thanks in advance

When I was having Cancer Treatment, it was really important to me that my dc didn't miss out, because of my inability to get them to things / organise their lives as I normally would. Is there a parent / group who would take responsibility for making sure the dc had lifts to and from any clubs / things they would do.... sorted them out with costumes for any dress up days etc?

Sadly we have had a few situations with terminally ill parents at school. We asked what they needed and what they needed was a regular routine of playdates, so they knew eg Mon, wed, Fri kids would be picked up, okay and be fed. Several of the parents had kids at the same Beavers so we would take in turns to take their kid too. We also did a meal rota and dropped food off mon-fri so it was one less thing for them to worry about.

With the holidays coming up offers of lift to/from hospital or playdates would I'm sure be helpful too.

Are about the fun treats as PP says too, if you see events in during the holidays that they may struggle to take the kid too if you could between you seem to include their LO.

In our experience I think it helped having one or two parents that co-ordinated with the family so they weren't getting too many messages. Also useful to get dietary likes/dislikes/allergies so all food received will get eaten.

Does this mean they're earnings will be going down? Whilst treatments/candles would be lovely if there a salary down a supermarket gift card and or petrol vouchers or money for posting may be more gratefully received. Or a rota of people that can give lifts too/from hospital to save on parking/petrol.

for typos

When my DC's friend had a parent having cancer treatment I focused on the practical. Picking the child up and taking him to cubs, football etc. And dropping the odd lasagne or curry around for the family.

Yeah agree with the above. A meal rota so they have a meal every ugh and don’t need to think about cooking and some play dates organised for days they may be at hospital etc. Lifts to clubs. Lifts to school.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply. Practical help it is - in this case the family have help with practical things such as cleaning and cooking so a playdate rota for the children seems like a great idea.