August 25, 2016

Adoption News Roundup

Happy Friday!

Here are some of our favorite reads of the week to take you into the weekend…

Do your kids ever think you have the “perfect life?” Or do they live in a fantasy world around who they think you are, versus who you really are? This father expounds on his son’s fantasy of him as “perfect,” and how this early childhood trauma influences perception.

How is cyber safety in your home? These helpful tips will teach you how you and your family can practice safe social networking.

How do we talk to our children’s teachers about adoption issues? Kristen Howerton of Rage Against The Minivan opens about her struggles in discussing attachment issues with her children’s educators. “One of the things I’ve been perplexed about in the past is how much to divulge to my child’s teacher about some of the behaviors that she might want to watch for.  On the one hand, I didn’t want to give my kid a prophecy of bad behavior with the teacher. In certain settings and with certain adults he has absolutely no issues, and I didn’t want to have the teacher start looking for something if he was doing fine. Why poison the expectations? On the other hand, attachment-related issues are so freaking subtle to the uninitiated, and tend to get progressively worse. Things that are totally fine for a typical kid can backfire in big ways for kids like mine. Behaviors that seem relatively benign often have big meaning behind them, and big consequences if they aren’t kept in check, or if attention is given in the wrong way.”

This hilarious story is why being a parent is brilliant, weird, and so awesome.

We love how Olympic gold-medalist Simone Biles has opened up the adoption conversation and spread awareness about proper, and positive, adoption language.

But on the other hand, this woman shares how the adoption-shaming Simone endured is why she never opens up about her own adoption. “The circumstances of my adoption often leads to questions I’m not always comfortable answering: How does it feel to be given up for adoption? Do you ever think about finding your biological family? Do you ever wonder what it would have been like to be raised by them? These questions force me to reevaluate my feelings after I’ve spent so much time fully accepting why my biological mother gave me up for adoption.”

This sweet “adoption proposal” has gone viral, and is so heartwarming.