Adoptive Parenting and Normal Parenting

Parenting and adoption are complicated topics in themselves. The never-ending debate about the differences in parenting biological children versus parenting adopted children is unending and remains unresolved till date. Some of the typical questions and challenges that adoptive parents have to face are locating or finding information about birth parents, siblings and other relatives of the child, also finding the medical, psychiatric or learning history of the children to help them deal with specific problems. Your parenting will almost be the same as any normal parent’s, but you may face more questions in public if you and your adopted child look different.

Adoptive Parenting Issues

There are certain questions, such as who is my birth mother or why did you choose to adopt me, that bother the adoptive parents, as the child grows and faces the reality. The role of adoptive parent is as joyous and rewarding experience as a biological parent, but at times, it can also be emotionally demanding. Other important issues that can be faced by adoptive revolve around the differences between parent and child. This can become more complicated if you are parenting as a single parent, as people will often ask you personal questions about your family that may be insulting or offensive for you.

Hiding the Fact of Adoption

Normal and routine parenting is what is considered conventional and acceptable by all societies. In some communities, difficult situations may arise when people try to pass off their adoptive children as their biological children, as they are afraid that they and their children may face social isolation or mockery. Then, there are child discipline issues, where children and parents have clash of opinions. As parents act strict, the child might try to use words like ‘adopted’ as a weapon. If he/she doesn’t speak out, he/she might just get depressed thinking that his/her parents are angry only because he/she is ‘adopted’! This is another reason why adoptive parents prefer to hide the fact of a child’s adoption.

Same Challenges In Normal & Adoptive Parenting

There are certain challenges that a parent has a face with all his/her kids, irrespective of the fact that they are natural or adoptive. For instance, teenage will always pose a challenge for parents and they will also have to make efforts to protect their child from peer pressure. Each and every situation of parenting has its own difficulties as well as joys and they are similar in natural and adoptive parenting. It is only the parents who have to decide, understand, access and solve the needs of their children and adapt their parenting style accordingly, be their child natural or adoptive.