by Gayle Swift | Mar 8, 2017 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion
For adoptive parents, the arrival of their children is a miracle beyond conception and an event which they love to celebrate. In a recent letter, Dear Abby extolled the virtues of “Gotcha Day” as a wonderful way to celebrate an important and life transforming event....
by GIFT Coach | Mar 1, 2017 | Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion
Building families through adoption forges strong, loving bonds. It also realigns the life trajectories of entire families and fractures biological ties. Regardless of the degree of openness, adoption generates complicated tangles of atypical* relationships (* in the...
by GIFT Coach | Feb 15, 2017 | Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion
Adoption matters; Talk about it! For far too many years adoption was buried under layers of secrecy. People considered it a sensitive subject. Off limits. Some parents kept adoptees in the dark. Families mentioned it only in whispers. Adoptees absorbed the subtle...
by GIFT Coach | Feb 8, 2017 | Adoption-attunement, Blogs by Gayle Swift, Family dynamics, General Discussion, Intentional Parenting
Last month we focused on accumulating information to underpin some intentional change-making. Today’s tips can help you implement change even if you didn’t participate in last month’s series. (It’s not too late to follow the exercise outlined...
by GIFT Coach | Feb 2, 2017 | Blogs by Gayle Swift, Difficult Discussions, Faith and Values, General Discussion
Americans have a cultural belief: Money Talks. What is yours saying? How strong is the connection between our spending and our values? After tracking your spending for a week–or more–what useful information emerged? Dissect the information with a Learning...
by GIFT Coach | Jan 25, 2017 | Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion
Two weeks ago we asked, “Will 2017 be smooth sailing for your family or will the seas be rough and choppy?” We posed this open-ended question to highlight the importance of distinguishing between what we intend to do, what we believe we are doing and, what...
