The best way ever...may not be enough

I have known since I could talk that I was adopted. In my family, it was just something we all knew, and with two adopted kids and two biological kids - there was never any weirdness about it. My Dad's favorite tease was to tell me that I was the prize in his Cracker Jack box, which used to crack me up as a kid. My parents were, and are the coolest, and I am so very very lucky to have them in my life! When I got a bit older, I wrote a fiction story about a kid who went to find their birth mother, and was rejected by her. I have massive issues with abandonment and never feel like I am good enough for anyone. Why am I telling you this part? I'm telling you because I think it is so very important and so vital that people realize that regardless of how someone is told they are adopted, many of the issues adoptee's face are purely a manifestation of simply being adopted. There are so many wrong ways to tell a kid they are adopted, and there are so many great ways to tell a kid - but there is so very much more to dealing with kids who have been adopted than how they found out. It is so important that we train our families who are adopting children to communicate with them about feeling abandoned, feeling less than perfect, the stress of being the odd person out, etc. Education is key - and we are the perfect teachers for the job.