Real Sisters Pretend

Real Sisters Pretend — page 1 — Author s Note One day I overheard two of my daughters at play and while they pretended to hike up a mountain with their stuffed animals they revisited a question a stranger had asked them Are you real sisters They were baffled They understood real as the opposite of pre tend and they knew they never had to pretend to be sisters As they climbed pretend mountains that day they talked about how adoption made them real sisters even though they have different birthparents and even though they don't look alike and I was proud of the ways they took care of one another in their play and in their conversation As Tayja says in the story sometimes people don't understand about adoption and might wrongly think that real sisters must have the same birthparents In our family we understand that being biologically related is not the only way to be a real family We under stand that adoption is another way adults become parents and children become daughters and sons and maybe Sisters and brothers And we understand that the often complex circumstances behind the need for adoption require respect for birth families and include diverse stories of love loss choice and hardship stories belonging first and foremost to adopted children themselves Sometimes there are many people in a family sometimes just a few A child might have only sisters or only brothers or stepsiblings or no siblings at all Kids might have one mom and one dad or stepparents or two moms or two dads or just one parent Some kids have caregivers who aren't their parents Some adopted children have relationships with their birth families while others do not Some children live with foster families who care for them until they can safely go home to biological family members or until an adoption plan or another plan is in place for them And there are also the many possibilities for aunties and uncles grandparents and cousins and all the other people who can be in families No matter how a family comes to be or who is or isn't in it the most important thing is for everyone to feel loved safe and cared for Every child needs and deserves a forever family and there are thousands of children in the United States alone who are waiting to be adopted I feel so lucky to be a mom to six amazing children One of the most wonder ful parts about raising my family has been seeing the great love that my sons and daughters share as siblings Some of them are biologically related to one another and some are not but because of adoption they are all real sisters and brothers and they always will be legan Dowd Lambert

Real Sisters Pretend — page 2 — Dedications For Natayja and Emilia real sisters to each other and to Rory Stevie Caroline and Jesse too M D L For Maggie N T

Real Sisters Pretend — page 3 — Let's play be tend Tayja What Pre tend It's pre tend Mia Not be tend

Real Sisters Pretend — page 4 — Oh I thought it was like you be tend to be something TAY AL Nope Pretend Like you are in pre school

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