by GIFT Coach | Oct 22, 2014 | Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion
Let’s stipulate that a healthy parent-child relationship grows in the nurturing cocoon of love. In adoptive families love is present, pervasive, intentional and committed. Unfortunately, love is not “enough” to firmly heal a child’s losses in...
by GIFT Coach | Aug 19, 2014 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion, Post Adoption Challenges & Behaviors, School & IEP Support, Strengthening Family Relationships
Over the next few weeks, schools around the country reopen. The air pulses with excitement. The lassitude of summer gives way to the frantic busy-ness of school. New supplies, new teachers, new classes all bring the anticipation of a fresh start. But school also...
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 | May 6, 2014 | Uncategorized
Mother’s Day is a particularly poignant one for adoptive moms. (It goes without saying, that it is a special and poignant day for birth mothers as well!) Mother was a title we yearned for. Once accomplished, it was a role cherished all the more because it was so...