June 15, 2018
Adoption and Parenting Reads of the Week
Hi there!
Happy Friday!
It’s Father’s Day weekend, and like with Mother’s Day weekend, it’s usually a celebration that people really look forward to or have some sadness about. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, our thoughts are with you and we hope you’re able to make it exactly what you need. Fathers don’t get as much credit or discussion in the adoption community (or any parenting community, really) and we want you to know that we value everything you bring to your child’s life — whether that’s making the decision to place your child for adoption or committing to raising a child with as much love and support as you can muster — we’re proud to have you as part of our community.
And now, this week’s roundup! All sorts of great pieces we hope you enjoy. Relax this weekend.
<3
The perils of pushing your kids too hard are real. As hard it as it is, parents can make a big difference in their children’s lives if they learn to back off a little. “What we’ve found is that kids in high-achieving, relatively affluent communities are reporting higher levels of substance use than inner-city kids and levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms are also commensurate — if not greater,” Luthar says.
We always love reading other people’s insights about the home study process. You never what nuggets of wisdom you can take into your own!
Adoption etiquette for Father’s Day (and all days.) “I can promise you that at no point in any of my experiences with birth mothers, and fathers, did I ever see anything other than selflessness. The decision was complicated, agonized over and ultimately followed through on for a myriad of reasons, but cavalier it was not. It’s a fool’s game to venture a guess about the process by which a child is placed for adoption, and worse to pass judgment on the parents who chose that path.”
On discrimination in adoption.
Once a reunion occurs, how does an adoptee survive in two different worlds? This woman shares her experience.
What do you think about “slow parenting?” “‘I encourage parents to take some time to just watch their children, whether they are playing, doing homework, or eating a snack,’ [John Duffy, a clinical psychologist and author of The Available Parent] says. ‘Take a moment to drink them in. Remember and remind yourself how remarkable your children are. That pause alone, even if momentary, can drive a shift in the pace…'”
These 30 celebrities were adopted as kids!
A roundup of beautiful stories about adoption and fatherhood.
How to create permanency for children who’ve been disrupted.