by GIFT Coach | Jul 6, 2016 | Blogs by Gayle Swift, Faith and Values, General Discussion, Post Adoption Challenges & Behaviors, Strengthening Family Relationships
Authentic listening is one of the most essential communication skills and one of the hardest to master. Often, we listen with an ear to refute or rebut what the speaker says. This is especially common when we listen to our kids. We seek ways to convince them of the...
by GIFT Coach | Jun 22, 2016 | General Discussion, Strengthening Family Relationships
In our previous post we examined how to repair breaches in our relationships. Families who regularly practice this skill improve the quality of their relationships. One obvious point that cannot be overstated: Begin and end with connection. This is the conduit to...
by GIFT Coach | Jun 8, 2016 | Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion, Post Adoption Challenges & Behaviors, Strengthening Family Relationships
As a parent, mistakes, miscalls, misunderstandings, and miscalculations are inevitable. We all know that intellectually but still we beat ourselves up. Often we forget to respond with intention. (Remember the distinction between responding and reacting. The first is...
by GIFT Coach | May 25, 2016 | Adoption-attunement, Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, General Discussion
To the marrow of our bones, adoptive parents understand what we’ve called in earlier blogs “our magnificent obsession”: the consuming desire for children. We pursued adoption with passion and dogged determination, leaped every hurdle and met every...
by GIFT Coach | May 19, 2016 | Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion, Strengthening Family Relationships, suicide
In adoption, great joy and many blessings coexist with grief, sadness, curiosity, regret and other complicated but very real and profound emotions. We’ve focused several recent blogs on proactively establishing an adoption-attuned safety net for our children....
