This blog is my place to vent and share resources with other parents of children of trauma. I try to be open and honest about my feelings in order to help others know they are not alone. Therapeutic parenting of adopted teenagers with RAD and other severe mental illnesses and issues (plus "neurotypical" teens) , is not easy, and there are time when I say what I feel... at the moment. We're all human!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Warm and fuzzy


The other day in therapy, Kitty asked if she would have the same issues if she'd been born into our family. The answer was of course no.


We did talk about how some of her problems were genetic (bipolar, ADHD and learning disabilities - which do actually run in our (Hubby's and my) family, but that because of the way she grew up (moving a lot, trauma, missing school) most of these are probably worse than they would have been. It was a tough conversation for all of us.


Still it was the first time she ever expressed wishing she'd been my daughter by birth and I have to admit that gave me a HUGE warm fuzzy feeling.
She's got a long way to go, but I'm getting spontaneous hugs and kisses, she comes to me for help if she's hurting, she asks me to do her hair and makeup... we're getting there.

2 comments:

Adelaide Dupont said...

Claiming is so good when it happens.

Is that the name of the process Kitty is going through right now?

And what a relief for her to know that the problems she is and was going through are not because of this family!

Carol said...

That's a nice feeling