Helping parents understand what feelings and moods are normal and what might need a little extra attention.
Becoming a mom changes you forever — and that includes your mental and emotional state of being.
School officially is in full swing and we are fitting nicely back into our daily routine. This has allowed me some one-on-one time with our foster daughter. The slower pace and the special time to spend with her are wonderful. Even more wonderful has been the way she has missed her foster brothers during the day. She spent the first couple days looking for them around the house and asking for them constantly. As she adjusts to this new routine, she wakes up from her nap ready to see her boys. We drive to preschool to pick one up and she practically pulls me by the hand in a mad rush to get to her foster brother. When we get to my eldest’s school and she spots him, she hugs him and pets his head (yes, she actually pets his head. I don’t know why but she only does this with him). Her world is as it should be now-her brothers are home from school!
This bond she shares with our boys is precious, honest and vital! From the day she came to us, she has been a part of our family whether she should be here for a short time or forever. She needs that, we need that. We are a family.
Just as much as we are family to our foster daughter, she also came to us with a family, broken as it may be. We have tried with everything we have to build a relationship with her biological parents. We also work to keep her connected with her biological siblings.
Recently, we were at the zoo checking out the lions and seeing how big the liter had gotten when we ran into our foster daughter’s biological sister and her family.
We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon with them; watching the girls enjoy every minute together. It struck me had we never reached out to begin a relationship with this family, with our foster daughter’s sister and her family; we would have never even known she was there. We would have seen this adorable three-year-old running around laughing thinking she looks a lot like girl-girl and have no idea she was her sister.
The connection they share is so important. We have been able to give them something they should have, but in a situation like this, they easily could have missed out on building their relationship.
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