Single dad and DD lost her job today. Appreciate any advice on what I should say?

[Anonymous]

Remind her that it had nothing to do with her skills and talent, but rather being attached to the wrong team. This happened repeatedly when DH worked for elected officials who were not re-elected or who retired. Encourage her to look for work that isn’t so partisan.

[Anonymous]

When things go wrong for my daughter I come home with ice cream and Hershey kisses and we sit quietly together. I never offer advice or opinions. I just listen. After a bit of space we can talk about steps forward and that sort of thing.

I’m sorry for your daughter.

[Anonymous]

All advice here has been good.
And I’ll also offer that when I was part of a mass layoff once, my company hired a consulting team for “transitioning” and the HR experts there advised us that we would be experiencing the stages of grief over the next few weeks.
I dismissed this as first as a little silly, because I was young and resilient….and it wasn’t personal or my fault even. I’d be fiiiiine.
But then it turned out they weren’t wrong. It definitely hit me in waves if shock (even though we kind of saw it coming if I’m honest), denial, bargaining, anger, sadness, acceptance. All of it.
So just have grace for those stages and encourage her to have patience with herself but to also do two things every day that propel her forward to “then next thing.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there one person who starts posts with "single dad?" How is this different than single mom? It's nice he's trying to help his kid and people are helping him, but I find it playing to the idea that men don't know how to raise kids so women have to help

I don’t think his subject line is the problem here.

[Anonymous]

Just be there for her and listen. You sound like a good dad.

[Anonymous]

Be there for her, bit if she was laid off from the federal government today she should also be looking for an employment attorney or a class action lawsuit. I’m sure there are a few legit cases, but for the most part certain procedures or laws were not followed. It won’t help with her rent today, but she should not go quietly.

[Anonymous]

I disagree with the advice to move home, if you or she can afford to pay rent for the next few months. Losing your job is depressing. Having to move home is even more depressing. It's important to try to stay non-depressed when you are job searching so continuing to lie where she is could help her mood and also keep her motivated to find other employment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there one person who starts posts with "single dad?" How is this different than single mom? It's nice he's trying to help his kid and people are helping him, but I find it playing to the idea that men don't know how to raise kids so women have to help

I think maybe he is trying to say he is a man trying to help a woman and wanting some advice on that, ya know? Men can be kinda...emotionally obtuse, some of them anyway. He's looking for tips on how not to be.

[Anonymous]

remind her that millions have been losing their jobs to H-1Bs and OPTs for many many years. and that neither political party cares about workers.

[Anonymous]

Just listen don't try to "fix".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Remind her that it had nothing to do with her skills and talent, but rather being attached to the wrong team. This happened repeatedly when DH worked for elected officials who were not re-elected or who retired. Encourage her to look for work that isn’t so partisan.

Working for the federal government is not partisan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the responses. She was in the executive branch.

I don't mean to be harsh but if she's in the exec branch she knew this was coming since Nov 7. In some transitions all EXec. are out on Jan 20. In either event she's kniw. for 3 months tgat thus is coming. She should have been looking for work. Nov 8

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Remind her that it had nothing to do with her skills and talent, but rather being attached to the wrong team. This happened repeatedly when DH worked for elected officials who were not re-elected or who retired. Encourage her to look for work that isn’t so partisan.

[b]
Working for the federal government is not partisan.

working for the exec branch is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the responses. She was in the executive branch.

I don't mean to be harsh but if she's in the exec branch she knew this was coming since Nov 7. In some transitions all EXec. are out on Jan 20. In either event she's kniw. for 3 months tgat thus is coming. She should have been looking for work. Nov 8

This is completely false. At no time in modern history has the executive branch attempted to force out career employees en masse like this. This is unprecedented in the United States and is something more commonly seen in third world countries and, yes, Nazi Germany.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just listen don't try to "fix".

This is the best advice for most dad-daughter pairings!