Ten Things Adoptive Parents Need to Know - Week # 6

On week #6 - we focus on Developing rituals that organize meaning for the child:

1.      Greet your child into the day.  For example, when waking your child in the morning you might say “I can’t wait to see your beautiful brown eyes open!”

2.      Spend time in their world of play.  As mentioned in previous weeks, it is important to spend at least 30 minutes each day playing with your child.

3.      Create calming, soothing rituals that relax them into sleep. Depending on your child’s age, this might mean reading a book, giving a lotion massage, talking about the day’s events, snuggling while listening to music.  Whatever the routine, it should be consistent and calming.

This concept is giving attention to the child on the parent’s terms…greeting the child into the day, narrowing the child’s world to what they can handle, developing rituals of experience that help the child anticipate parents, and learn to perceive themselves through parent perceptions.

If you have any questions about the concepts presented or would like to talk in more detail please contact cscheller@ftia.org.   As a reminder, we will be hosting a webinar entitled Ten Things Adoptive Parents Need to Know at the end of this series (December 2010).