Parenting Adopted Child

Adopting a child is as good as giving birth to one. The immense satisfaction and happiness that you experience on holding that tiny bundle of joy in your arms for the first time is just exhilarating. The moment the child looks into your eyes and holds on to your finger, you know you are captivated for life! Parenting an adopted child requires the same amount of love and affection that go in for raising a biological child. You will go through the same tantrums and the same demands that your biological child would make. Once you are mentally prepared for raising an adopted kid, you will have a much better bonding with the child. If you have any kind of apprehensions or prejudices, please step back from adopting a child.

 

The first step, as any normal parent would take is, to establish yourself as the parent! The kid should feel absolutely comfortable with you and trust you, no matter what. This can be done only with loads of love and care. The child is your responsibility from the moment you adopted him/her. Don’t expect the child to be different or not have emotional setbacks as your own child. Deal with temper tantrums the way you would with your child.

 

Involve the whole family and introduce the child to everyone. When you learn to accept the child as your own, your family will follow pattern. Have weekend trips, family dinners and night-outs with cousins. This way, the child will feel at home and secure with people around him and will have no issues of bonding later in life. If you have a biological child already, explain to him/her that the adopted child is also part of the family and his/her sibling. Delegate some responsibility to take care of the adopted child to your elder child in order to let the child accept and bond with him/her.

 

This will be a crucial discussion with the child and perhaps, one of the most stressful experiences for both the kid and the parents. But sooner or later, the child must know. It is best to break this at an age when he/she just starts to understand human relations and becomes a bit mature. You have to win the child’s confidence and tell that just because he/she is adopted, things are and will remain the same. The love and trust will remain the same. There should be no change in behavior of the parents after disclosing this. Too much love and smothering the child with too much affection is also not recommended.