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Adoption

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Letterbox

461 replies

MissFenella · 30/05/2015 23:42

Is it usual/typical for letters from parents to include 'when you are 18 and we meet again....' type stuff.

Letter from birth mum included a few 'wonderful future together' type references.

Putting aside the heart crushing 'she thinks I am babysitting' element (because that is about me not the girls) how would you couch the tone to your children?

OP posts:
Maryz · 25/07/2015 23:56

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Kewcumber · 26/07/2015 00:07

thickos crossed out was used for comic effect in response to Maryz's post I meant to add: Pointy-head = intelligent = using words other people don't understand = making other people feel a bit thick

If you're going to insist picking up everything I say please at least try to keep up with the posts I'm replying to.

Many of our threads are childish, and being such an avid lurker you must know that few are inflammatory. I'll consider myself told off though.

Always good to be kept in line when we've moved onto trivia and irrelevancy and firmly brought back to the inflammatory - anyone would think you were trying to stir.

Is it very sad that I've ceased to care what anyone reading this thinks of me? It is a bit isn't it - I'm normally very aware of people who might lurk and find advice useful. Can't believe that they'll have the perseverance to read this one though - hence I suppose the not caring thing.

Kewcumber · 26/07/2015 00:09

And words obviously didn't fail... you used a whole bunch of them after that Confused

Maryz · 26/07/2015 00:11

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Kewcumber · 26/07/2015 00:18

Do you think if I mentioned to Devora that Aldi have chalk paint on sale next Thursday (only in three colours) and wonder whether I should bite the bullet and paint my fireplace - that I will be reported to MNHQ for inappropriate frivolousness on a thread which at some point was an inflammatory argument?

And no-one answered my question about pointy haired boss/villain in Despicable ME question?

Maryz · 26/07/2015 00:25

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JaneDonne · 26/07/2015 00:31

Yeah you're right about the pointy hair.

Kewcumber · 26/07/2015 00:31

Chalk paint, as our style guru Devora has informed me, is a flat finish pain that can be painted onto stuff like horrible rusty coloured marble fireplaces that someone might not be able to afford to replace and doesn't need much prep.

Kewcumber · 26/07/2015 00:35

you don't have to have seen the film, you dimwit* You've only got the look at the pointy hair boss link you put up and the picture I put up.

  • (For the avoidance of doubt the "dimwit" comment was directed solely at Maryz who has signed a waiver in triplicate that she will not sue me for defamation of character it being true n'all provided that it is used solely for comic effect on adoption only and not on any other alternative forum such as Netmums)
Maryz · 26/07/2015 00:43

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Maryz · 26/07/2015 00:44

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Tangerineandturquoise · 26/07/2015 00:58

adoption at the risk of sounding facetious I really do wish words would fail you Grin

Hobbycraft have chalk paint all year round if that helps Devora but
will someone please tell me my score- or just declare me the winner- I never win stuff.
We did have Farrow and Ball paint- but the first accessory somewhat trashed the walls so we switched to something more washable/paintoverable (for the walls not the accessory)
We have two little accessories they don't really match the cars- but they are picture perfect (does that gain or loose me points?)
They didn't come as a pair we had to source them separately
The first one has been to CAMHS for a bit of a polish but they can't make him match the other cute accessories in the 'hood -so is that chic and unique and thus worth extra points ?

I would ask the self proclaimed profit of goodly deeds but she must be busy polishing her halo-and so I must ask the pointed one

Devora · 26/07/2015 08:08

YES to chalk paint on your fireplace, Kew - it needs NO prep. (Though a quick wash down would be nice.). You'll need to finish it either with wax (I have a big pot somewhere if you want to borrow) or Rust-Oleum do a finisher lacquer.

And now, for anybody who cares to use them, here's some random words to pull out of context:

Eggs turpentine stupid mishmash marshmallow hairy spider wicked chalk paint pompous green parakeet casserole dish parent trauma farrow and ball opine pointy head bottle of fizz all children do that jeff off

Bubblesinthesummer · 26/07/2015 08:13

I dunno, I don't get to see cartoons any more

Take niece/nephew or friends children etcWink not that we do that at all, no no no

StaceyAndTracey · 26/07/2015 08:39

I have several questions points

  1. Do you need to wash the fireplace first with sugar soap ? Surely marble is smooth and shiny and won't grab the paint?
  1. What colours of paint are in Aldis?
  1. No one can win the points competition, because none of us are Saving The World and doing it for The Moral High Ground . If you are just doing it because you wanted kids / more kids and you love them because they are yours , It Doesn't Count .
  1. If we stop feeding the trolls, do they go away ? < says the worst troll feeder >
Maryz · 26/07/2015 08:51

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slkk · 26/07/2015 09:15

I had a dream within a dream last night. And the dream within the dream was being referred to as a thread. And you were all in it. So now I know what everyone looks like.

WereJamming · 26/07/2015 09:28

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StaceyAndTracey · 26/07/2015 09:45

Of course, jamming . Adopted kids don't get to just go to the cinema and eat pop corn and have fun like, y'know, " normal kids " . They have to be educated and taught about the importance of everyone's feelings except their own . To understand things from another persons point of view .

No stuffing themselves on Ben and Jerrys and mega cups of fizzy drinks for them . No siree

StaceyAndTracey · 26/07/2015 09:46

SLKK - was I very young , slim and gorgeous in your dream ? Surrounded by my designer , hand picked bubs ?

slkk · 26/07/2015 09:53

You were twins...

Singsongsung · 26/07/2015 10:55

I have read through this thread with interest and just wanted to ask you all something. Apologies if you feel it's a bit off tangent (but hey, the thread has several tangents!!).
I have a family member who adopted a child 10 years ago. The child was 4 at the time. From day one the adoptive parents insisted on that child calling them "mum" and "dad" and assumed with all close family members a sense of there not having been a past life. What I mean by this, to give an example, there would be discussions about who in the family the child looked like, and the child's own memories of the first few years would be dismissed out of hand as incorrect. ("I used to like going to the zoo" "No you didn't, you never went to the zoo until we took you" for example).
I have worried about this child for 10 years. As she gets older I continue to worry about how her potential desire to meet her birth parents might be met.

I'm curious as to what experienced adopters think. Is it normal practise to demand "mum" and "dad" titles? (And I do mean demand, to the point where the child would be ignored until she addressed them correctly).

I have noted the comments on here about SW and continued involvement and I have to say I agree. This family had no further input after the initial stages and in my opinion they desperately needed it.

Maryz · 26/07/2015 11:49

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TeamAcorn · 26/07/2015 12:04

I don't think you can judge it on a few meetings.

A friend recently told me that they thought a relative of theirs was treating a child badly because when the child stayed at theirs she would ask if she was allowed to come out of her room in the morning, because she wasn't at home until she'd asked. She said that clearly she'd been confined to her room and it was terrible she didn't feel she could just come out and speak to them.

Well our son has a gro clock and we tell him to stay in his room until it says it's morning. Not because we want our sleep but because he needs to try to get his! I'm sure if he stayed at my friends she'd come to the very same wrong conclusion. This could be the same with zoo. It could be very possible the child has some fantasy ideas that the SW told the parents they should correct?!? I don't know, but that's the point, no one does but the family themselves. There's a lot of stuff adoptive families have to deal with in private that impacts on what you see. For example putting an adopted child in a time out is ill advised but I bet quite a few of my friends judge my lack of time outs, at times, as poor parenting. And yet it's actually good adoptive parenting to use an alternative.

As for using Mum and Dad names, this is common practice for pre-school children and often for those at school too. If my children had struggled with it I would have maybe chosen a different method of dealing with it admittedly, but again we don't know the ins and outs of their situation, what advice they'd been given etc. Maybe that child was struggling and a SW had advised ignoring as a good way to deal with it, maybe the child had control issues and this was their control mechanism...I don't know!!! Again no-one does but the adoptive parents/SW/child.

It is also common place to not discuss a child's life with their birth family, or how they came to be adopted with family members of the adoptive family. Those discussions tend to happen between adoptive parents and their children only, for various reasons, be it child protection or simply because the adoptive parents want to let it be the child's story to tell when they are older and they won't have a choice if they go around revealing it to all when they are young.

Also, the first year or so after adopting a child is not like the first year after giving birth, it is tremendously more difficult than that. All children adopted, particularly at an age like 4, have been through a great deal of trauma and being a new parent to a pre-schooler is a shock to the system for a start. Having to not only parent, but parent a child with additional needs, is very hard. They may also have been finding their own feet at being adoptive parents and chances are that now 10 years down the line they treat the whole situation very differently (your post sounds like you don't see this child anymore)

The child will be able to track down birth parents at 18 and have access to every record, there will be plenty of info recorded for them to see. You can't brainwash a child into ignoring their prior life with birth family, you can either support them in accepting it, or choose not to support it, but that will more than likely result in a breakdown of adoptive family ties later in life. So, if none of the above ended up relating to these particular adoptive parents and they were just choosing to ignore all the advice they'd been given on merging their child's 2 lives, instead of ignoring one, it will come back to bite them on the arse.

Singsongsung · 26/07/2015 20:09

It's the biting them in the arse that I fear to be honest. The child is doing ok. Still has some attachment issues (she will attach to anyone who shows any sort of interest in her) and struggles a bit at school.

There's not a lot of fun in their lives. I think the adoptive parents are so conscious of potential behavioural issues that they battle to retain order to the detriment of fun if that makes sense at all.
I totally get the mum/dad titles as a goal but personally I would imagine allowing a child to come to that of their own accord would be much more appropriate than demanding it to the point of aggression.

I don't know, obviously, what initial advice was given to them re this though.

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