When you adopt, your entire extended family receives a new family member to love and adore. Besides you, your parents may be the ones who are most excited about the adoption as they get to become grandparents. In honor of Grandparents Day on September 11, here are some ways you can make the new grandparents feel special and included when you adopt.
1. Get them involved in the adoption shower
Once you are matched and have an idea of the birth mother’s due date, ask your parents if they would do the honor of hosting an adoption shower. Explain how it is different from a ‘typical’ baby shower and work with them to brainstorm ideas. They will feel special being able to plan this big event and may even learn more about adoption along the way.
2. Give them a grandparents’ gift
Give them a present to get them even more excited about the impending adoption. This can be a funny shirt or bumper sticker about being a grandparent, a special keepsake photo album or embossed poem about become an adoptive grandparent, or a new photo album with pictures from when you were a baby with empty pages for them to fill with pictures of their new grandchild.
3. Ask them to help find items for the nursery
Once you have a nursery theme or design selected, ask them to help find special adoption-related décor or keepsake items to add to the baby’s room. If they need help figuring out something to contribute, consider adding a special shelf or two exclusively for tokens of love from family members and other loved ones, including the birth family. Grandparents can buy a trinket that will become a beautiful keepsake that your child will grow up with.
4. Remember the birth grandparents
During your conversations with your child’s birth mother, learn what the situation is with the birth grandparents. If they are involved in the birth mother’s adoption plan, consider getting them a Grandparent’s Day gift as well. You can certainly do something more extravagant, but even a gesture as simple as a heartfelt letter letting them know how their grandchild is going to be cared for will be appreciated.
Nicole Witt is the owner of The Adoption Consultancy, an unbiased resource serving pre-adoptive families by providing them with the education, information and guidance they need to safely adopt a newborn, usually within three to 12 months.
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