by Gayle Swift | Aug 22, 2018 | Adoption-attunement, Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion
Readers of this blog know that I care for my three-year-old grandson three days a week. This is both a privilege and a joy. Trained as a teacher and honed by adoptive parenthood, I am also fascinated at the difference between parenting children with trauma histories...
by Gayle Swift | Aug 15, 2018 | Adoption-attunement, Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion, Strengthening Family Relationships
Schools have already reopened in my community which reminds me of the need for intentionality in how we guide our children through the school year. Parents and students all hope for a good year, one that is filled with learning–both academic and relational–and grows...
by Gayle Swift | Jun 27, 2018 | Adoptive parenting, Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion
Even without a caption, we can infer that the dad in this photo clearly wants his son to listen. This graphic explodes with emotion. Negative energy stirs within ourselves as we look at it. It awakens memories of similar conversations where emotion overwhelmed reason....
by Gayle Swift | May 23, 2018 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift, Difficult Discussions
In our two previous blogs, we focused on the role of the family adoption library as a way to facilitate important yet perhaps difficult conversations about adoption complexity. Books are one of many tools parents can draw upon to help them. The most salient point in...
by Gayle Swift | Apr 4, 2018 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion
Our last few blogs have concentrated on ways to establish and nurture deep connection within our families. Now let’s take the time to review our efforts and identify the changes that have resulted. (Notice I did not say “if” any change occurred; I...
by Gayle Swift | Mar 7, 2018 | Adoption constellation, Adoption-attunement, Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift, Strengthening Family Relationships
During the previous two weeks, we focused on building relationships by intentionally scheduling conversations with the sole purpose of speaking the deep feelings in our hearts. Instead of relying on the assumption that our families “know” how we feel about...
