Parenting Adopted Children Today

We were up and out of our house before the sun was even up this morning! We headed over to Edina, MN, about a two hour drive, for our next education session with our agency. This three hour session was a class about parenting children who are adopted. It covered everything from developmental stages of children to attachment and bonding issues that many adoptees face when they get to their forever home. Some of things we felt we knew already from our extensive (and anal) research, but the class really gave us the opportunity to meet other people who are also going through the process and talk with them. We discussed tactics and tools that we can use to communicate with our children throughout their lives and the various stages of development. We were also hit with the fact that one of the biggest challenges that we might have to face is that during the first three months (at least, maybe longer) we can and will be the only caregivers. Unfortunately, with many adopted children they may be dealing with attachment issues. In order to help with their attachment issues or lack thereof, we must be the only people consistently meeting all of their physiological needs. This does not mean though that our baby cannot interact with anyone else - just that they cannot be held, fed, changed or soothed by anyone but the two of us. We fear this may be very hard for our families, especially the grandparents!! We will obviously be sure and educate everyone and keep them up to date on the progress. Overall, it was a great day and we're excited about learning more. It was definitely a good source of information to get started and also continue in our own research.

This last week I also started attending a course called Parenting with Love & Logic. In my field, many of the teachers I work with have also adopted Teaching with Love & Logic in their classrooms. Ryan and I are very fond with this line of thought and I am psyched to learn more. The class meets once a week for about two hours. We are also hoping to start incorporating this philosophy at the Boys & Girls Club.