Since I came out publicly about being a late discovery adoptee I’ve had a lotttt of questions about my views on adoption and have had plenty of adoptive parents email me personally about certain things. I am pretty open about this subject and thought it would be easier putting a single post together to answer the top questions. If you have more you would like me to address please comment or email…
If you haven’t heard, I was on NPR’s Code Switch this past week. I talked about my experience as a transracial adoptee on their episode, Our Homeland Is Each Other,r and I figured this was the perfect opportunity to talk about my experience. For anyone considering a transracial adoption I want you to take a deeper look into some of my experiences.
Right now it’s around 2am, and I am awake. My seven-year-old has a sore throat, and I just tucked her back into bed. And I find myself thinking about my friend @derdoktorsschnabel who is preparing to become a dad next Spring.
I had already brought my daughter some cold water and a cough drop when she woke up coughing earlier tonight. This second time she was apologizing for waking me up again, but started crying and saying that her throat still hurt. I quietly lead her out of the room where her younger brother and sister were sleeping and took her into the kitchen. She said she was cold, so I got her one of my way-too-big sweatshirts and put it over her, with the hood up. Then I announced that I would be making her some of Dad’s Magical Healing Ramen.
I put some water on the stove to boil, and chatted with her while I made the Top Ramen. I let her choose whether or not I would add an egg (she wisely chose “yes”) and also choose which flavor we’d have. When it was ready, I put an ice cube in her bowl, and told her to stir it around until the ice melted all the way.
We sat at the table eating ramen together and talking while we ate. We talked about how ramen comes from Japan. She asked me if I knew where potato chips came from, and when I admitted I didn’t know, she said that she did and she’d show me the answer in a book tomorrow. I told her how ramen broth always makes my throat feel better when I’m sick. We kept chatting like this until my wife woke up and caught us in the kitchen with our Magical Healing Ramen. She gave our daughter a hug, and gave me a smirk.
Finally, I gave my daughter an extra cough drop in case she woke up again, took her back to her room, and helped her straighten out her blankets and tucked her in again.
OK, so here’s the point I want to get to. There’s a lot of pressure today when it comes to being a parent. Pressure to make every adorable crafty thing on Pinterest. Pressure to make every costume and lunch at home from scratch. Pressure to avoid any food remotely considered unhealthy. Pressure to follow the latest cognitive development routine to make sure your kid has learned calculus by the time they’re out of diapers.
But the truth is, SO much of that is just chatter and noise. It’s easy to think that every kid wants a huge trip to Disneyland, or a massive tree house built in their backyard, but honestly what your kid really wants is just time with you. It’s the little stuff, accumulating over time, that will stick with them. It’s nights of ramen, and funny stories from your childhood, and letting them “help” with changing the lightbulb, and sitting on the swing next to them and talking about their day.
I might be getting a bit overly sentimental and rambling right now, but I think that’s OK sometimes. That’s what kids do to you. They force you to get tired and dirty and frustrated and scared. And you learn to still be yourself anyway.
Bottom Line: You’re gonna make a great parent. Don’t worry about it. Just do your best, relax, and just let the little things fall into place.
Dude you’re gonna make me cry stop it but thank you so much for this post @highpolardisorderrr
*currently sobbing*
D'oh!! Sorry @highpolardisorderrr! I guess I should’ve tagged this post as #NSFPM (not safe for pregnant moms.) You and @derdoktorsschnabel are going to be GREAT parents! :D
For real this has been a huge confidence boost in the parenting ability realm
I’m glad!! :D
Keep in mind that the only skills demonstrated in the original post consisted of… • Waking up • Making Top Ramen • Having a conversation (In other words: Skills every person has)
I’m not saying parenting is easy (it’s not) but honestly if I can do it, anyone can.
Any chance of a ramen recipe?
I’ve been meaning to respond to this recipe request for a long time now. With the family catching colds again, I figured this was a good time…
Ramen of Health and Home
You will need: Blue mana (2 cups of water) White mana (1 egg) Green mana (1 package of ramen) Two generic mana (Stove and pot)
Put 2 cups of water in a pot, then place on stove at high heat to bring water to a boil.
Once water is boiling, put the ramen noodles and seasoning in the water and turn the heat down to medium.
Crack 1 egg and mix directly into the pot. Be sure to break the yoke while stirring thoroughly.
Let cook for one more minute while stirring.
Serve and enjoy with funny stories, fond memories, or terrible puns.
Well, it’s that time of year and we’ve all got colds again.
Looks like it’s time to reblog the old family home remedy…
Well!! Once again it is cold season (at least at our house) and I shared this post with @zoyogrl for the first time. I got rather emotional while reading, and her expression when I finished made me get teary eyed.
