What will I do when my child starts school?

Can you believe it…it is time get kids ready to head back to school?  Getting school supplies, shopping for new clothes and paying school fees are all part of the normal drill.  Parents of adopted children should be aware and sensitive to their child’s anxiety’s and fears about starting or returning to school.  Please feel free to share your thoughts, comments or experiences. 

Below is a really great article from Adoptive Families Magazine by Julie Michaels, editor of Adoptive Families’ Growing Up Adopted section, and mother of Lily, adopted internationally.

Tips for Talking about Adoption

1. Don’t wait too long. Kindergarten and first graders (age 5–7) don’t mind their mothers in the classroom and may even be excited by sharing their adoption story. By second grade, children are more self-conscious about differences and less willing to be the center of attention.

2. Don’t make your child’s adoption story the subject of the talk. Read a book or explain adoption in another way as author Amy Klatzkin did (see link below to read more).

3. Be aware that many children this age have never heard of adoption. As one child said to her mother after her turn as “star of the week,”, “Mom, they thought adoption meant I was a doctor!” Cover the basics so that your child doesn’t have to.

4. Tailor your talk for a young audience. Five to seven year olds aren’t sophisticated. Using props—like dolls—is a good idea.

5. Talk to teachers beforehand to get a sense of the class dynamics.

6. Finish with food. Hungry children love a treat, whether it is ethnic food or homemade cookies.


**Reprinted with permission from Adoptive Families Magazine. For more articles like this one, to subscribe, or to sign up for the AF e-newsletter, visit Adoptive Families online, http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/

Here is how one mom shared her adoption story to her daughter’s class.   This article also is provided courtesy of Adoption Families Magazine.  You can link to it here:  “How I Explained Adoption to the First Grade”-Using a favorite doll and a logic children can follow, one mother enlightens her daughter’s curious class.  by Amy Klatzkin .

Amy Klatzkin is the editor of A Passage to the Heart: Writings from Families with Children from China and the Adoptive Families 2001 Adoption Guide. 

For Additional Adoption and Schools Selected Resources, please see the link for this article athttp://www.adoptivefamilies.com/pdf/how_I.pdf

I hope everyone had a safe and fun summer. Enjoy what summer you have left and may God bless you and your family as you prepare to head back to school.

Cherri