by GIFT Coach | Jul 15, 2014 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Strengthening Family Relationships
Umenta.com reported on recent research by Dr. Marshall Duke of Emory University indicates that children benefit from repetition of family stories. “Duke found that children who were exposed to family stories experience “higher levels of emotional...
by GIFT Coach | May 28, 2014 | Adoptee experience|Adoption-attunement|Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool|Blogs by Gayle Swift|General Discussion|Strengthening Family Relationships, Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool
As parents, we appreciate the structure that rules bring to families. Sound rules establish firm, clear boundaries. This creates a secure framework for kids. It also offers them something to push against. Kids are born explorers–courageous, persistent they strain to...
by GIFT Coach | May 21, 2014 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Faith and Values, Post Adoption Challenges & Behaviors, Strengthening Family Relationships
Remember when we were kids and we craved our parent’s attention? We’d call their names and plead for them to watch whatever we were doing: a cartwheel, an energetic dance or, perhaps leaping high into the air. It was as if, our actions lacked value until...
by GIFT Coach | Apr 16, 2014 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Faith and Values, Post Adoption Challenges & Behaviors, Strengthening Family Relationships
Intentional Families recognize the importance of having fun as a family. Creating special family holiday traditions is a great way to accomplish this. Whether the event is religious like Passover and Easter, or secular, holidays are important events in a...
by GIFT Coach | Mar 19, 2014 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool
Adoption is complicated and unless parents are adoptees, we can never completely understand the experience. Love and positive intentions will carry us far but we must rely on our children to speak the truth of their world. We must set a context where our kids feel...
by GIFT Coach | Mar 2, 2014 | Adoptee memoir, Adoption books, Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Difficult Discussions
Split at the Root: a Memoir of Love and Identity, packs a riveting story. Against a lush tropical backdrop, a remarkable story of transracial “adoption” unfolds. As an adoption coach and an adoptive parent, I found her story riveting. It kept me up late...
