The sun finally came back out today, after hiding behind quite a few clouds and several inches of snow, both of which knocked out my internet connection! Along with knocking out the internet, the storm also closed the schools down for the past two days, so the kids were able to stay home and play in the snow and have friends over, time much better spent than sitting at school according to them both.

While the extra time off was throughly enjoyed, there is a slight problem that has not quite yet dawned on my adopted stepson. This past Friday, was the end of the quarter in school, and since there was no school, there was no way for him to turn in the... more

In the past few weeks, there have been quite a few posts on here about food hoarding, sneaking food, and the frustration that parents face, when dealing with such behaviors. For some children there is a legitimate fear of running out of food, so they stash some just in case, while for other children, sneaking treats is nothing more than a control battle.

This is something... more

Yesterday, I shared with all of you how my adopted stepson, now in his teen years, had finally been assigned the family tree project in school, as well as my dismay over how and why a teacher would choose the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas to assign such a task.

I drove up to his school late this morning, just before lunch time, and took a minute to speak with his guidance counselor about family tree projects, and how they can cause some emotional upheaval for children living in any type of non-tradtional family setting. Children of divorce have loss in their family,... more

It has taken a long time in his school career, halfway through high school, but my adopted stepson has finally been assigned the most dreaded school project of all for adoptees, the family tree. We had thought that we were lucky enough to escape dealing with this particular project, when he had been assigned to make a timeline of his life, during grade school one year. We had wiped our brows in relief, thanking our lucky stars that we had gotten that project instead of having to do the family tree, but alas, it has finally reared its ugly head.

We only found out about the project... more

When young children are acting up and need some time to sit and think about their behavior and actions, parents often plop them into a time out. For those who are unfamiliar with the time out process, it is placing a child in one designated spot, usually a chair set aside somewhere away from distractions, yet still near the parent so that he or she can still keep an eye on the child, and the child sits in said chair usually on a minute to year ratio; meaning that if the child is five years... more

My adopted stepson has always had a low sense of self esteem, as well as a low sense of self worth, stemming from his chaotic childhood. He was shuffled back and forth between homes and caregivers during his formative years, and then later abandoned by his birthmother, and all of it took quite a toll on his view and thoughts on himself.

He has struggled throughout his childhood to take pride both in himself, as well as in his work and accomplishments. Failure never really seemed to bother him, as he felt as though he deserved it, along with the crummy feelings that went along with it. He would revel... more

When progress reports came out half way through the school marking period, my adopted stepson was not doing so hot in Latin II, in fact he was pretty close to failing the class, and we were not too happy about it. While we understand that Latin is a very hard language to learn, and the second year of Latin is even harder since the entire text book is written in Latin with no English in it whatsoever, he was not having difficulty learning the language due to a lack of skill,... more

One of the things that I like to do every so often when I crawl into bed at night, is to think about how far my adopted stepson has come in so many areas. He was so far behind his peers when it came to his social, communication, and emotional skills, that the daily interactions of life were a chore for him. Add that to all of the tremendous emotional issues and stress that he had going on in his young life, and the fact that he was functioning at all is quite an amazement.

At... more

I have to say that one of my largest pet peeves would be when people do not follow through on the commitments that they make. Now I understand that occasionally life throws things our way unexpectedly that hinder our ability to make good on the promises that we make, but for the most part in my experience, it isn't life that is standing in the way of those who do not follow through, but simple laziness or poor planning and time management.

While my adopted stepson does have issues with planning and time management, I do have to say that as he is getting older his follow through is improving and is fairly age appropriate. He is a teenager, so sometimes his follow through is great,... more

At the end of this year, my adopted stepson will be sixteen years old. He has yet to get his driver's permit and is simply itching to do so, so that he may begin driving while he is sixteen, along with the rest of his friends. His maturity level have definitely grown, so much so in fact that we brought home the driver's test study guide for him and told him to get his proof of enrollment form so that we could take him up to the local DMV and get him a learners permit for driving.

As any young teenager would be, he was absolutely thrilled, yet each and every time we come close to taking him up to the DMV, he does something that he knows will prevent him from being able to obtain one.... more