From the category archives:

"Normalizing" Adoption

Adoption “Invisible”

April 16, 2011

The adoptive status of children must be addressed early on, and be ongoing. How children view and process adoption changes as they move through the developmental stages.
Children who are the same race as their adoptive parents comprise a healthy percentage of adoptions, regardless if their adoption was domestic or international. Children who are the same [...]

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Pebbles…

March 20, 2011

Do you appreciate one-liners? I certainly do. I believe they are important. They can make us laugh (those endorphins are good for us), think and act. There are the comedic one-liners, jokes—the silly, the funny, the dirty, the stupid. They come out of nowhere, surprising you, making you chuckle, for example: “Do not argue with [...]

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“Real”

February 3, 2011

So… What is “REAL?”
Merriam-Webster defines real as, “not artificial, fraudulent, or illusory; occurring or existing in actuality; of or relating to practical or everyday concerns or activities; existing as a physical entity and having properties that deviate from an ideal, law, or standard.”
“On Real Parents,” a recent post on Grown in My Heart, contributor Jessica [...]

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The Dance

January 10, 2011

Knowing when to lead and when to follow is important. Even more so in parenting the child who has been adopted.
Sometimes one of my children lead with their own comment, observation or question. And I follow their lead with my own comment(s) and observation(s). And I typically look for opportunity ask open-ended questions (to encourage [...]

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National Adoption Month: A Time for Awareness

November 8, 2010

November used to be the break between a busy fall and even busier holiday season, the month when Mother Nature hadn’t made up her mind about what she had in store for the near future. Was she going to tease a little bit more out of summer or inflict winter early? November was about less daylight, [...]

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How to Help Your Child Process the Past

October 21, 2010

Adoptive parents are very good about painting the rosy picture—how they came to be families, how they love their children. Parents do this to claim their children. The also do this because as an adoptive family they are in the position of having to validate their family to extended family, friends and strangers. But often, [...]

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