Deep Dark Secrets of Toddler Adoption, #2

Secret # 2

Adopting toddlers can be a very isolating experience. (As can any adoption.) Adopted kids need their worlds to become very small once they have arrived home. Their worlds have literally exploded and they need their parents to minimize that world for them, to help them sort out who and what are important in their lives now that their lives are upside down.

If you are adopting, there is a very good chance you may not spend any amount of time away from your child for months on end. That means not leaving them with a neighbor while you run to the store, not leaving them with Grandma on an overnight trip, and not even leaving them in children's Sunday school while you go to adult Sunday school or church.

It's not that you are a martyr who is trying to be invincible. It's that it's what your kiddo needs from you at that moment.

Your activity choices, especially in the first few months, may mean avoiding shopping or museums or church because it is too overwhelming for your child. You can feel very cut off because you're world has also become very small.