What do you wish you knew back then?

I wish they would have told us just how patient and flexible we would need to be. That yelling at a kid to "shut up" in the middle of anything when they are stressed out WILL NOT do either of you an favors. I wish someone would have said, "Be prepared to be in the middle of grocery shopping and your child sees a guy that looks like their birth dad and totally freaks out so you have to leave the store with a tantruming child that needs to be held and told they are safe.... and no groceries!" I know how strong a couple and how strong a person my husband and I are... and there were several couples in training with us that I truly DO NOT think could handle even the mild behaviors we have to deal with. You need to go into fostering with reading these forums for MONTHS before you have a placement but know that even reading everyone else's experiences, yours will be different... but you should be prepared for anything that ends with "disorder".