How to tell her Dad is in jail.

November 22, 2009

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Toddler & Preschool | Emotional Well-Being

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AUTHOR:

Swirlies

DATE: 10/21/03 5:00pm

SUBJECT:

How to tell her Dad is in jail.

How do you tell a four year old girl that her Dad is in prison? He was picked up for a parole violation so he's not going to be doing twenty years. He'll be out in less than a year. He and his wife are seperated and he wasn't seeing his daughter any more than a day or two each month for the last year so it's not like his absence is a huge change in the kids life. His wife says the daughter rarely asks her about the father and when she does she simply tells their daughter that she doesn't know where Daddy is. The problem is that I used to chauffer the kid back and forth between Mom and Dad (neither have cars) so the kid associates me with 'going to see Daddy.' My wife and I keep in contact with the mother and daughter fairly regularly and EVERY time we see them, the daughter asks ME where Daddy is. I hate telling the kid that I don't know where Daddy is because she's going to get the idea that Daddy doesn't love her anymore. I want her to know that Daddy is OK, that he still loves her but won't be able to talk to her or see her for a while. I don't know how to explain the concept of incarceration to a four year old except to say that Daddy misbehaved so now he's sitting in a really long timeout.

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How to tell her Dad is in jail.

Swirlies

10/21/03 05:00pm

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