Doesn’t your friends feelings of fear, vulnerability and aloneness justify the exact opposite of your point though? I hate to speak ill of the dead, but if your friends parents had taught self responsibility and hence self assuredness, I would expect that whilst your friend would feel obviously bereaved, he should feel confident in his own abilities to cope with the big wide world out there.

There’s a balance to be struck though of course. Whilst I know that if I ever needed to, my parents would always be there for me, I wouldn’t expect them to bail me out of every situation I blunder into, whether as a result of my own stupidity or not.

For interests sake, here’s what we decided to do (it will most likely sound very harsh):

1) My daughter lost her money, it’s gone.
2) My daughter, repaid to me the portion of the £10 that she gave away / lost, less what she spent at the play centre on food and drink.
3) We doubled her pocket money the week later, though that came with doubled responsibility in the form of household chores.
4) She doesn’t know it yet, but in future all purchase of books will be subsidised 50%/

So whilst losing her savings, her ability to buy books has been effectively quadrupled. I hope that was a fair compromise that not only reinforces an important life lesson but also encourages her own reading.