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My husband and I just adopted our son and want to make sure he grows up learning about his birth parents. It is an open adoption, but where we live in different states and visits may be difficult, I want to find other ways to foster a healthy relationship between him and his birth parents. I was thinking of making a scrapbook for him about his birth family, so that he can learn about them as he gets older. What are some ideas you have to encourage positive learning experiences about birth parents?
Last update on April 3, 1:50 pm by Lauren Madsen.
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Hi Lauren!Congratulations on your adoption, and great job starting early to help your son understand his story! I think the scrapbook is a great idea. I know my birth daughter's adoptive parents have photos and a scrapbook of me in the nursery. Having photos around is helpful because even if visits are infrequent, the kids get to know their birth parent's faces. This makes it easier to connect the dots later on. Face timing is also wonderful if in person visits are impractical. Even as a baby he will be able to recognize over face time that these people are happy to see him. The best thing you can do is talk about adoption, and make it a totally normal part of his life. Start now, so when he is old enough to understand what you're saying you will have had time to practice. Tell him how loved he is by his birth parents and you. Good luck!
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Thank you Annaleece! I really appreciate the input. I am all for making his adoption a very normal part of his life. I am putting together a little photo collage in his room with photos of him with his birth mom as well. My husband and I also talk to him about how amazing his birth mom is everyday and give him extra kisses from her. He's obviously too young to remember this now, but I always want him to know how much she loves him.
It sounds like you're off to a great start! I've heard a lot of people say that they think of their kiddos' birth parents as extended family members, so they'll try to get together in person once in a while, just like you would with aunts and uncles. One family I know does an annual camping trip with their daughter's birth family.
I definitely feel like his birth family has become like extended family. It is like our family grew by much more than just one little boy. Now he has twice the amount of family and is completely surrounded by people who love and support him. I love the idea of some kind of annual trip with the birth family! I should see if they would be interested in doing something like that.