persuasive essay

Well, finally, she did her persuasive speech today! I asked her how it went, and she told me she was trying to convince people to adopt children, especially older children. She said they need homes, too, because kids can make really bad choices without families. She told the class that sometimes people can't raise their kids because they don't have enough money or because they're not ready, but they should know that their child will miss them and want to be with them. And yet, she was sincere in saying that folks should adopt kids, especially older kids. I think the overall message was only make an adoption plan (she used the phrase "give up for adoption," a phrase I never use), if you really can't raise your child yourself; everyone else should consider adoption. She thought she'd have two "of her own" children (another phrase I hate), and adopt two kids. What was really amazing was that she went on to tell her classmates about attachment disorder, and that that was a risk in adopting older kids! Her teacher said, "Since you mentioned it, what is attachment disorder?" and my daughter answered, "What I have." :eek: She then told them when she was 9 she'd have tantrums, and once "I broke my mom's nose." :eek: :eek: :eek: Can you believe it? I asked her how the class responded to this information. She said they were all very quiet. She felt like the presentation went well. I think this is very interesting, because on one hand, it is overdisclosure, but on the other hand, it is a way to say to her classmates that her adoption was a positive experience. I am also amazed that, in at least what she reported to me about it, the theme was not, if my Mom would do X or not do Y, I'd be just fine, woe is me, I have a strict mom. It was rather an acknowledgment that raising her is not easy. That's what I take from this, anyway. I also was touched that she used some of the materials I had printed out for her for her presentation--what she took was not the statistics on waiting children, but information on how you adopt, and what questions you should ask yourself before adopting an older child. I think she probably read some of this stuff to the class. In the section on qualities an adoptive parent should have, it says "an awareness that healing doesn't come quickly, all wounds cannot be healed, and your child may not attach to your family." Pretty serious stuff for 13 year olds!