bye, Dad.

I've been lurking here since here didn't exist. I had a different username at prodigy pro. Over the years I have enjoyed this place tremendously.  I guess for me this a special place to reach out and learn, share and fuel the fire or geardom and the diy spirit. All along I always knew my talents weren't in the realm of math or electronics. Plenty of heart and desire though for electronics and through it all a realization of how amazingly cool my dad is, was.  Got that call today.
A brilliant aeronautical,  structural and mechanical engineer passed today. A man cooler than I ever could be.

Any advice on telling my daughter tomorrow? She's 10 and her birthday is in three days.

Sorry for the loss of your Father. He would surely be smiling to know how highly you think of him.
No easy way to share such news.
I hope for peace for you and your family.

I'm very sorry to hear about your loss.
I can't begin to imagine how you and your daughter may feel.
I don't have any advice, just thoughts and well wishes.

My condolences to you and your family. Difficult times.

My humble advice is to tell your daughter exactly the way it is. Her grandpa has died and that's what happens when you get old. She probably won't make any sense out of it but that's fine.

I am sorry for your loss and my condolences for you and your family.
In my job I have to tell people that their ancestors (or themselves) will die or have died very often. The best thing is to be honest and direct without being too harsh. I was educated in telling such things by people who exclusively do palliative care. One special theme in such courses is always how children react to death. The consent was that especially children have a very natural way to grieve and that they deserve absolute honesty and even can help their parents getting over their loss. My courses went even further but that should be of no interest now.
So I hope I found the right vocabulary here as I am not a native speaker.

Mathias.

I live in fear of that call with my dad at his age and my mom at hers. When my dad fell off the roof a couple of years ago, yes at his age he would still go up there to do yard work and such, I thought it was it.  I totally understand any emotions you will be feeling.

My deepest condolences  to you and your family and sorry for the Loss.  If there is anything we can do let us know.  Keep you in thoughts...

Condolences, and appreciate how much time you got to enjoy with you father.

Tell your daughter soon, so she can move on not associate her birthday with your dad's death.

RIP

JR

My experience is that children deal well with bad news. Be clear, direct and kind, and let her ask questions.  Don't fill the silence with words.  She may have very simple questions.

One note, I have seen several time a child and even young adult feel guilt for not crying or expressing emotion over a death or terrible loss.  They feel they "should" feel something, but they don't and they feel guilty.  Over the few days after you give her the news be sensitive to that, and if you feel it is happening simply ask her about it... and tell her that it is ok not to cry, that it doesn't mean she loved grandpa less.  Try to relate a story of how not crying when something sad happened... happened to you too... And explain that sometime, when the time is right, she might feel like crying and that would be ok.

I lost my great-grandfather when I was around 10. I didn't know him well, and was surprised how sad I was. But I was certainly old enough to know that death happens.

My grandfather passed when I was much older. Sad, and maybe less sad because I'd already lost great-grandpaw.

Both affected my Mom more than she would let show. I think your daughter should know that you are very sad yet grateful for the time you and your dad had together.

My father is at the age where he could live another 20 years or I could get the Call tomorrow. It *is* a bit unsettling.

My condolences to you and your family. I think one of the best things you can do with your daughter is go over what your dad did with her. It will help you, too! You can tell her about some childhood stories, the cool projects he worked on, etc.

I lost my last remaining grandparent - my grandfather, and my uncle within 2 weeks of each other last year. Then my mom had a breakdown on top of that. It's tough how life can be, but it's important that we pass down to our children what we've learned from our family. I think that alone helped me get through a really tough time.