Bringing home an adopted child is such a rewarding experience in so many ways. Your family can feel complete, and the child can have a sense of comfort and reliability perhaps for the first time. As you’re all working your way into new routines, consider some fun activities to bolster this sense of family togetherness and help make your newly adopted family member feel more at ease.
Four activities to help your newly adopted family member ease into the family dynamic
Visit Local Attractions
Your adopted children might feel somewhat disconnected from the area, especially if they did not previously live nearby. Checking out some local attractions is an excellent way to spend time together as a family and to introduce them to the community. Ask your children what types of activities they enjoy and what they might be interested in doing. Participating in an activity that they like can help them to feel more comfortable with the neighborhood.
Set up Play Dates
As you are bringing your children to school and other activities in the area, you will likely start to mingle with other parents. Encouraging your kids to form relationships with other children can help them to develop crucial social bonds. Time with the family is important, but you also want the kids to experience a full range of activities and have the ability to put matters like family law to the back of their minds.
Cook Together
As you are working to create a family unit, you also want to inspire healthy habits. What’s great here is that your kids can tell you about their favorite foods. Then, you can look up ways to add special customizations to those recipes. In other words, you and your children can work together to create your own special family recipes. This approach really helps to solidify the concept of family in a fun and approachable fashion.
Start a Scrapbook or Album
Unless you adopted your children shortly after born, you may not have any of their newborn photos. In fact, you may not have any pictures at all from the first years of your children’s lives. Now is the time to start putting together memories of your new family. Your kids should have an active role in assembling this photo album or scrapbook, and you should let them decide major approaches to it so they are comfortable.
Adopting children is such an amazing experience, and you want your family to start functioning as a unit. Remember not to force the process so harshly. Integrating these natural methods to creating wonderful memories is the best approach to take.
Author bio: Anica is a professional content and copywriter from San Francisco, California. She loves dogs, the ocean, and anything outdoor-related. Raised in a big family, voting on things is normal. Also, cartwheels are her specialty.
