Coping with friends family and social situations

UK Helpline: 0 345 123 23 0 4 | tcf.org.uk Some examples of responses used by other parents: • “As good as I can be” • “It’s a hard day today” • “As well as can be expected” • “I’ll never be the same person that I was” • “I never know from one day to the next how I’ll be.” Responding to casual questions about children Talking about children is common even in the most casual social interactions, and on occasion we will be asked about whether we have children and how many. Over time we develop our own ways of answering. Most of us tailor our answer to the situation, although sometimes it can help to have an answer prepared if we will be meeting new people who we will be seeing again, such as if we’re starting a job or joining a club. There are no rules about how to answer. The most important thing is to say what feels right to us at the time. We should never feel guilty if we decide not to talk about our child. Sometimes it is too raw or does not feel appropriate. Some examples of responses used by other parents: • It depends on the situation – if it's someone I feel a connection with I'll tell them, but if it's a passing acquaintance I'll just say, “Yes, I have kids" • I say I have 2 children but one died - I want people to know straight away