So, to all the moms and dads out there who have made the decision to bottle feed—for whatever reason, please know that you are not alone. May our babies be fed, loved and nourished.

It's ok to make mistakes, it's ok that you sometimes need to spend more time with your other child. We may not understand it as children, but we will, and we know your love for all of us surpasses any diagnoses.

An Ode to ADHD.

To the anxious, judgmental mom beside me.

I’ve learned that my sense of humour helps me to survive those rather difficult situations (among many other parenting moments!) and that the best I can do is to educate, advocate and support.

These words which I will never forget were etched into the wooden bathroom cupboards by our teenage daughter who had been diagnosed with depression and anxiety.

We felt isolated and misunderstood as parents, because we wouldn’t just ‘make’ her do things, go places or see people. I finally found an organization called Parents for Children’s Mental Health (PCMH) that offered support and a listening ear. Talking with other parents who were experiencing the same things as me drastically reduced my feelings of isolation and shame.

We are a trans-racial and trans-cultural family. In contemplating what to write for a blog post on this topic, I invited my 7 year-old daughter to share her perspective, and she was interested in the opportunity to contribute. Here are her thoughts.

In that moment, I knew that I would take on the task of moving her from a birth into captivity and introducing her to the freedom of choice that the human spirit longs for… that kids born into health here in Canada take for granted.

It doesn’t work to force your vision of a happy family on a child, we all know this in theory. This piece may only relate to teens, but I think it takes some trial and error and work-shopping to figure out the attachment piece; not every child needs the same thing.

My experience of being an adoptive parent for 18 years has been many things, not the least of which, a journey of self-reflection, humility and objectivity. It has required me to look through the lens of my daughter’s eyes, in situations from the mundane to the complex, in an attempt to imagine how she feels about it all. I can never know.

At the beginning of our adoption journey, we had a very specific idea of what our family would look like, and how we would handle parenting challenges.

For the first 2 years of my son being home, I thought we had dodged the whole, “attachment issues” bullet. It seems that I was wrong…

Whether or not to breastfeed is a very personal decision for both biological and adoptive mothers. In my opinion the feelings of both the mother and child need to be respected in making a decision either way.

Read, learn, experience, try things out and put aside anything that isn’t working for you. You will figure it out and become a stronger family for discovering your own best ways of doing things together.

Read, learn, experience, try things out and put aside anything that isn’t working for you. You will figure it out and become a stronger family for discovering your own best ways of doing things together.

Attachment takes work. Playing, attuning, and connecting in moments of good behaviour is easy. Staying connected in moments of undesirable behaviour—not so much. In fact, without compassion, I find it nearly impossible.

In private adoption, a potential birthmother has a month after her baby's birth to consider this most monumental decision of her life.

When we were matched with our children, we were informed that they had continued openness with their siblings. We were nervous (mostly because we didn’t know much) yet excited. Our children, from the day we met them, they were so excited to share that they had brothers.