by GIFT Coach | Aug 21, 2013 | Adoption Attuned Parenting, Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift, School & IEP Support, Strengthening Family Relationships
Some schools reopened this week and most students will be back at their desks by Labor Day. A new school year is full of excitement and anxiety for kids, parents, and teachers. At school children face pressure to behave, to fit in, to conform, and to achieve. This can...
by GIFT Coach | Jul 24, 2013 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift, Strengthening Family Relationships
The press is abuzz with excitement over the arrival of the British royal baby. His parents’ obvious joy echoed throughout Great Britain and the world. After an extremely brief introduction, the proud parents bustled their son off to the privacy of their home to...
by GIFT Coach | Jun 19, 2013 | Blogs by Gayle Swift, Strengthening Family Relationships
June is associated with celebrations: Fathers Day, graduations and weddings. We undertake each of these benchmark events with expansive visions of success. What does it take to move beyond wishing to achieve the fulfillment of our dreams? The obvious answer is...
by Gayle Swift | Jun 11, 2013 | Blogs by Gayle Swift, Faith and Values, Post Adoption Challenges & Behaviors, Strengthening Family Relationships
As we continue to explore the importance of fathers in our lives, we came across this TED Talk link to Andrew Solomon’s presentation. A gay man, he shared his parents’ attitude to his “otherness.” While they came to accept his being gay, they...
by GIFT Coach | Jun 5, 2013 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift, Strengthening Family Relationships
Fatherly guidance can sometimes come across to our children as a subtle message of incapability or over-stepping on a child’s need to make things their own way and do projects themselves. Parental over-helping can reinforce the feelings of shame and incapability...
by GIFT Coach | Apr 17, 2013 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift, Infertility
Most people have a childhood dream of becoming a parent. Children spend hours in fantasy play, pretending to be like their mommies and daddies and rehearsing their own future role of parent. For many adults, this desire intensifies when their relatives and friends...