When a parent is dying, children-in-law may be confused about their place. Experts share practical ways children-in-law can be supportive during every stage of the crisis
The whole family was afraid: afraid of saying the wrong thing to Ta, who was fading away day by day; afraid that Ma would break under the stress and grief; afraid to tell the family’s newlywed couple that they either had to give up on their two-year-stint in Eretz Yisrael or miss saying goodbye.
The daughters-in-law had all that pressure and then some. Even the ones who’d been part of the family for years were noticing that they weren’t actually a part of the family the way they’d thought they were. As much as they loved and were loved by Ma and their sisters-in-law, when the family came together in its sorrow, they reverted to their childhood dynamics, and the children-in-law didn’t know where to put themselves.