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So what is a parent to do? A lot depends on your child’s age and your own unique family, beliefs, etc., but here are a few suggestions on getting everyone a good night’s sleep and some of our experiences.

I always tackle a new child and the sleep issue by having two goals… a long term goal and a short term goal. The long term goal being the child happily going off to bed at bedtime with hugs and cuddles, a kiss and a “good night” like the rest of our kids. The short term goal is for us to get as good... more

Sleep.

As all parents can tell you…sleep…how much or how little and what quality is being had and by whom… has a direct impact on family life.

When people ask about daily life in our house and how we stay sane with 10 kids, I always say that I don’t mess with two things…meals and sleep.

While most parents expecting a newborn baby are aware of the fact that their sleep is going to be significantly impacted, adoptive parents should also be prepared for sleep struggles in the beginning, no matter what age of child they are adopting.

When... more

I am, and have always been, a huge Disney fan. I love the movies, I love the tv shows, I love the toys, I love the books, I love Disneyland…you get the idea.

But since we started expanding our family through adoption, it is has consistently bothered me that Disney and their fabulous line of “Princesses”, adored by almost all of the little girls I know (especially my own little girls!), did not have any African or African American princesses.

We have a mermaid with red hair and fair skin, Mulan with her beautiful Chinese features, Jasmine... more

I got an email that asked me to address an issue regarding how to answer comments from others. I have written about handling the typical comments that transracial families tend to get when out in public, in this post and in this post. However this person asked about a different “type” of comment, which involves an issue I haven’t tackled yet.

She wrote,

Many parents of Ethiopian children are told by other people "Your child does not look African." Or they comment on how light their skin... more

Happy New Year everybody! My wild and crazy celebration last night included a bunch of my favorite small people, my best friend, oodles of food and way too much Chex mix! Both of our husbands were in Denver for the football game (my Christmas present to Josh), so it was a wives and kids only party.

Truth be told, we cheated…we put the New York news channel on and had the kids watch the ball fall at 10 p.m. our time…they blew some horns, wore silly hats, cheered and kissed their moms, and then all were in bed by 10:30 p.m.

Anyway,... more

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So what does this have to do with transracial adoption? With more and more parents adopting from Ethiopia all of the time (and with malnutrition also being epidemic in many other countries that Americans are adopting from), it is important for adoptive parents to understand the affects of malnutrition and to be prepared for the possibility of stunted growth or learning disabilities in their child.

While many (if not most) children adopted internationally are small for their age at homecoming and tend to catch up fairly quickly, some remain small for their age,... more

The NY Times has an extremely sad article this morning on the devastating effects of malnutrition on children in Africa.

The article is titled “Malnutrition is Cheating it’s Survivors, and Africa’s Future”.

Most people know that thousands of children still die of malnutrition and starvation every year in Africa and in other impoverished parts of the world, but as the article points out, little attention is paid to the effects of malnutrition on those that survive.

The article states...

Yet almost half of... more

On Christmas Eve, the Washington Post had an interesting article on transracial adoption. The headline I am sure, grabbed the attention of many readers.

Why Doesn’t White Adopt Black?

The author, David Nicholson starts off the article by questioning,

“Whenever I see a white couple with an Asian or Hispanic child, I can't help wondering whether adoption -- like the personal ads -- is one of the last areas of American life where naked expressions of racial preference are acceptable.”

Nicholson comments on how many white adoptive parents from... more

A few days ago I wrote this post on “My Favorite Christmas Special”, and I talked about the CBS special “A Home for the Holidays”.

The show aired last night, and as in years past, I watched it with my family. The show was wonderful as always…it featured heart-warming stories of children who were languishing in foster care and have now been adopted and are thriving in their new homes and families. The artists sang songs, the kids were beautiful… I cried quite a few times. A plea was made for more parents to consider adoption, and... more

Back in early September, I wrote this post about the new season of Survivor on CBS. Survivor producers decided that for its thirteenth season they would try something new, and start off the show with four “tribes” of castaways, divided by race. They had an Asian tribe, an African-American tribe, a Hispanic tribe and a Caucasian tribe.

After a lot of rambling in my earlier post, I concluded that I would have to “wait and see how it played out” before I made a judgment call.

Last night the season ended, and Yul Kwon, a 35-year old from California, was the first ever Asian-American to win the one... more