Have you adopted children? I think I've made it pretty clear that all of my siblings are adopted, but each adoption was so different from all of the others. I'm sure anyone else who has adopted children could share a different experience as well.
My brother knew exactly what was going on at his adoption. He was annoyed when the process was taking too long, requested (well, demanded really) a meeting with the judge to try to move things along a little more quickly, and couldn't wait to officially be a Krigsman. Yes, there actually was a time in life when he couldn't wait to be an official member of the family. He was so proud once the judge declared him a Krigsman.
I don't remember if my middle sister and brother knew exactly what was going on when it came time for their adoptions. They both had been part of sibling groups that had been split up, and I guess they kind of understood that they were going to be part of our family forever instead of remaining part of their biological families. But I don't really remember how much they understood at the time. Now, of course, they both understand that they were adopted, because we've always talked about it as they've grown up. They've both had a lot of siblings come and go over the years, so they understand foster care and what we do. They know that they're adopted, and sometimes they ask questions, but they basically understand how they came to be part of our family.
My littlest sisters were way too young to understand what was going on when they were adopted. All they knew was that they were getting to wear pretty pink princess dresses, and they got new baby dolls to celebrate. Now, they're five years old and the only experience that they've had with foster care was a little boy who stayed with us for a few days two years ago, and our most recent foster child who stayed with us for almost a year. They aren't old enough to understand it, or understand that foster care is something that we've been doing for so long. However, my mom has recently started telling them how they were born from her heart instead of from her belly and that they were adopted. They don't really know what the word 'adoption' means, or really understand the whole concept, but I guess they'll start to understand it more as they get older. It's just funny to me that we have to explain it to them, because the rest of my siblings were old enough to somewhat understand their adoptions and have since really experienced foster care through other siblings.
So here's my question to you all. If you've adopted children, how old were they when the adoption went through? How did you explain adoption to them if they were old enough to understand it? Or if they were too little, like my sisters, how old were they when you tried to begin that explanation? I'm curious to hear about other experiences out there, because each adoption is so unique.
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Taylor