The Compassionate Friends (UK) 15 Involving other people in remembering We could collaborate with other members of our family, our friends or our child’s spouse and friends on any of the ideas in this Handbook. We could: • Make things intergenerational. Let’s see how both young and older members of our family or friends want to remember our child, share these ideas with one another or maybe even combine these ideas together. For example, the younger members of our family may like to show the older members how they use technology and the digital world to remember our child. Likewise, the older members of our family may like to share ways they like to remember. • Consider helping each other - the younger members could support the older members who might be less mobile and wish to be more active in remembering. Older members could also get a lot out of sharing their own life experiences. We could act as a key facilitator in all of this. • Meet up on a birthday or other significant date, with a group of family and friends to do a fundraising activity for an appropriate charity, or simply enjoy a meal out together, or a fun activity that our child would have enjoyed. Some family groups have gone trampolining, canoeing, zip wiring, done a zumbathon and so on. • Be inclusive: We, or other members of our family or friends may have hearing or visual impairments or learning difficulties, or find remembering things more difficult than others. We could think about alternative activities we could engage in. Sensory experiences can be a way of remembering, such as those described earlier, in relation to taste and food, smells and sights. • Reach out to our child’s friends and/or colleagues whom we have never met. This can help us discover and explore another side to our child, and help our child’s friends and colleagues get to know their friend’s family a bit more. We might think about trying to get in touch via social media or by contacting their workplace or university directly. Useful Links TCF Leaflets: Our child’s friends and Our adult child’s partner and friends
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTM0NTEz