Search Results for: blog mommy tell me a social story

Working At Home Provides Parents With Needed Validation

If you are a parent, you probably have spent at least some time interacting with other parents that have children that are about the same age as your children. Sometimes these interactions are positive, and sometimes….not so much, thanks to a phenomenon called “mompetition”. Mompetition is a negative type of social interaction among parents of young children. It involves comparison and one-upmanship, boasting and judging. Before I became a parent, I knew that conversation among parents often involved comparisons of their children but I did not know to what extent. I do not think that it is something that you … Continue reading →

Book Review: Is That Your SISTER? A True Story of Adoption

So, how do the kids really feel? Is That Your Sister? tells you. It is narrated by six-year-old Catherine, who co-wrote the book with her mother, Sherry. At the playground and the store, Catherine is often asked, “Is that your sister? Is that your mother?” Catherine, her mother and her sister all look quite different from each other because Catherine and her sister are adopted. (In the black-and-white pencil illustrations by Sheila Kelly Welch, Catherine appears to be biracial, fairly light-skinned with textured hair and some African-appearing features, and Carla is African-American with dark skin and a short Afro.) Catherine … Continue reading →

Enjoyment and Empathy—Good Social Adjustment

Many parents worry about whether or not their child is developing appropriately when it comes to social skills. This can be a hard one since all children are different and our kids may be very different from us, and/or very different from their siblings socially. Some like to play in big groups, others are happier playing alone or with one other friend. Overall, I think that if a child is showing signs of enjoyment—enjoying playing with other children at least some of the time, and empathy—caring how other people feel or if they get hurt or upset, then social skills … Continue reading →

Kids’ Books on Domestic Adoption and General Adoption Themes

This blog features books about adoption-—primarily domestic adoption within the U.S.; however many of these books are good for all adoptive families and kids. It is the last (for now) in a series on children’s books with adoption themes. Previous blogs included: books featuring children adopted from China, children from Korea and Vietnam, and children from Latin America and Eastern Europe as well as kids adopted internationally from any country. Let’s Talk About It: Adoption. Fred Rogers of television’s “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” has photos of several families and children interacting together—eating, playing, working, arguing. He addresses children simply, talking about … Continue reading →

Getting Caught in the Mommy Trap

Have you ever been caught in the mommy trap? What do I mean by that? Let me tell you a little story, when my daughter was just two, I signed her up to go to a daycare facility twice a week. The idea was to let her spend time with other children and to help increase her socialization. We just didn’t know anyone else with young kids and the opportunities for her to get engaged with other children were few and far between. When I took her the first time, she was thrilled and excited. She couldn’t wait to get … Continue reading →

“Mommy, Tell Me a Social Story!”

Children on the autism spectrum, like those with Asperger’s syndrome, have difficulty with social cognition. Concepts like making and keeping friends, being polite, considering people’s feelings, etc., can be totally mystifying. Most of us are able to navigate through friendly interactions quite easily, even though conversation is random and unpredictable. But randomness and spontaneity are overwhelming to kids on the spectrum. In order for these special children to have any hope of achieving meaningful relationships and functioning well in society, we need to teach them basic social behavior in a way they can understand. One technique which can be very … Continue reading →

Downsizing Hollywood Style

Of course, “downsizing” is relative when you’re talking about people who drop $500 a day so their dog can get a massage. So when you see headlines screaming: “Candy Spelling is Scaling Back” don’t get ready to hand over your hanky just yet. The bazillionaire widow of TV mogul Aaron Spelling and the mother of reality TV star Tori Spelling is selling her world-famous 56,500 square foot Holmby Hills estate (better known as Los Angeles County’s largest home) and moving into a paltry 16,500 square foot penthouse. According to the Los Angeles Times, Spelling just shelled out $47 million of … Continue reading →

Using Stories to Help you Parent

For centuries, tribes of people have used stories as a way of teaching values, sharing history and information, and even teaching children about the world around them and the role they are expected to play in it. As a parent, we too can use stories to help us to guide and teach our children and stories can also be a way of injecting some fun and humor into your parenting. While you can find children’s books about just about any and every topic that might come up in your household—and books can be a great way to introduce ideas and … Continue reading →

Books for Siblings Dealing With Special Issues in Adoption

My last blog shared books that prepare a child to welcome a new brother or sister by adoption. This blog share books addressing special situations that may arise during an adoption, such as an extended waiting period or the parents’ absence. There is even a book for children the birthmother is already raising, talking about their sibling being placed for adoption. Seeds of Love: a Story of International Adoption, prepares children to stay with a friend or relative while their parents travel to bring the sibling home. It’s the story of a little girl’s two weeks with her grandmother as … Continue reading →

Reading and Thinking about Birthmothers

Reviewing all these adoption books has got me wondering. I’ve always read adoption books to the kids, but not ones that focus on birthmothers as much as the ones I’ve been reading lately. Over and over I read interviews with adopted teens and adults saying that they were curious about their birthparents and longed to talk about them, but their adoptive parents didn’t seem open and/or the kids feared hurting the adopted parents’ feelings. Social workers now seem to counsel parents to speak openly about birthparents. Recently a spate of books dealing with birthparents have been published, such as Mommy … Continue reading →