Adoptive Family Articles

Planning for Your Child's Immediate Needs
Regardless of whether your adoption fees are minimal or large, once you bring your child home, you must begin to pay for the normal expenses of raising a child. These costs can be something of a shock if you've never raised children before. Typical child-raising expenses generally include:


Planning for Your Child's Future
Wills and Trusts
If you don't have a will, this is the time to have one prepared. Once the child is placed in your home, you'll want to see an attorney to add the child to your will or to any trusts you may have. Mentally or physically disabled children can raise unique legal and financial issues. ...


Tips for Being a Nurturing Parent
A healthy, nurturing relationship with your child is built through countless interactions over the course of time. It requires a lot of energy and work, but the rewards are well worth it. When it comes to parenting, there are few absolutes (one, of course, being that every child needs to be loved) and there is no one "right way." ...


Understanding Your Child's Behavior
All parents struggle with some of the things their children do. While there is no magic formula that will work in all situations, it is helpful to understand the kinds of issues that impact a child's behavior. If you understand these issues and know what to expect at different developmental stages, your reactions will be wiser and it will be easier to create an environment that supports and nurtures your child.


Tips for Soothing a Crying Infant
One of the most stressful experiences for new parents is dealing with a crying baby. Babies cry for all sorts of reasons, and it's sometimes difficult to figure out why your baby is crying and how to soothe your baby. It's important to remember that crying is one of the main ways that babies communicate, and their crying can mean lots of different things. ...


Surviving Toilet Training
Most children are ready for toilet training sometime between their second and third birthdays. This is the same time that they are experiencing what many parents call "the terrible two's"—a time when the children are having their first experiences with the word "No!" and with exerting their own will and making their own opinions known. As wonderful and funny as two-year-olds can be, their willfulness and independence can make toilet training a real trial for their parents.


Dealing with Temper Tantrums
Almost every parent of a toddler has experienced the frustration of dealing with a child throwing a floor-thumping, hair-pulling temper tantrum. Even though this can be embarrassing and challenging for parents, this is normal behavior for most young children.


The Power of Choice
Would you like to get your kids to willingly cooperate? Stop the daily battles? Teach your kids valuable life skills? ...


Winning the Chore War
"How many times do I have to remind you to take out the trash?" Sound familiar? Household jobs are a part of every family's daily life, yet they tend to create ongoing conflict. ...


Sibling Rivalry
The word "sibling" refers to brothers and sisters, and "sibling rivalry" means the competitive feelings and actions that often occur among children in a family. There are things that you can do to try to reduce sibling rivalry.