by GIFT Coach | Oct 19, 2016 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Difficult Discussions, General Discussion, Post Adoption Challenges & Behaviors
How do cultural misperceptions and adoption stereotypes affect our children, ourselves as parents, and our family dynamics? When movies or books paint adoptees as a “bad seed” or unwanted inconvenience, how does it impact us emotionally and shape our...
by GIFT Coach | Aug 3, 2016 | Blogs by Gayle Swift, Empathy, Faith and Values, General Discussion, Intentional Parenting, Post Adoption Challenges & Behaviors, Strengthening Family Relationships
Americans value success. We believe our land of opportunity rewards hard work and determination. Last week we discussed Dr. Michele Borba’s excellent book, Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World. Dr. Borba asked us to consider that we...
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 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 | Mar 23, 2016 | Adoptive parenting, Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion, Post Adoption Challenges & Behaviors
Subscribers to this blog know that I recently became a grandmother. My husband and I are fortunate to spend time with him while his parents work. This has provided many opportunities to connect with him, to be intentional about how we spend time together, and...
by GIFT Coach | Feb 3, 2016 | Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion, Post Adoption Challenges & Behaviors, Strengthening Family Relationships
Most of us adoptive parents spent many childless years pursuing the holy grail of parenthood. During the waiting process, we promised ourselves and our partners, that we would do “anything” if only we could become parents. (And we meant it!) We envisioned...
