Random Musings

How to Design an Adoption Scrapbook for Your Child
By Lisa Copen

Your child’s adoption story can best be told through scrapbooking an amazing album that you can share with one another for many years, all the way to adulthood. As a new mom, however, good intentions are often put aside just trying to keep up with the daily tasks of parenthood. Our best keepsakes and photos end up stuffed into a closet, as we wait for the time in our lives when we will have enough of a chunk of hours to do the story for our child justice.

Don’t postpone your child’s adoption scrapbook any longer. It’s important that they get to flip through this book and share in the photos long before they go off to the university.

Here are a few ideas to guide you in scrapbooking your child’s adoption keepsake book (or a “lifebook” as some call it):

[1] Write everything down. As a new parent it’s easy to believe you will remember every special moment, but in no time you’ll be making loads of memories and some of your favorites will fade.

[2] Record what you know for your child which is appropriate for his or her little ears. Perhaps you were able to spend some time with the birth mom and you have some personal reflections on how kind she was. Or maybe you have no information at all if your child was adopted from an orphanage. It’s important to be honest but it also needs to be something that you can read from your book to your 5-year-old. If your child’s birth mom has many other children which she is still raising, or your child was the result of an abusive situation, this isn’t appropriate for the book.

[3] Layout the photos you want to use. You don’t have to use all of them, just the ones that are most important. Are you arranging the book chronologically? Make sure everything is in order.

[4] Decide what size of album to use. They are typically 8″ x 8″, 12″ x 12″ or 8.5″ x 11″. The 8″ x 8″ albums are a nice size for little hands to hold.

[5] Try to locate whatever supplies you’d like to use. When I had a hard time finding anything other than a couple of stickers that mentioned adoption, I finally designed my own 8″ x 8″ overlay transparencies. I really like overlays because they give one’s book the appearance of class, there is no mess (no glue or tape required) and anyone can use them (no instruction required either).

[6] Keep it simple and don’t be tempted to put every thought you have in the book. Consider your child’s attention span too. Add more pages later as your child asks questions and you want to answer them in the book (what kind of car did my birth mom drive?) You may also want other things represented, such as your child’s country (or even city) or birth.

[7] Add some poems and quotes. When you lack information about your child’s birth or are overwhelmed by writing down all your thoughts, it’s a nice touch to add a few adoption quotes. But be sue to not rely on them completely. Quotes are nice and can add to the album, but it’s your own personal thoughts that will be most precious to your child as they get older.

[8] Use child-friendly language. For example, don’t ever write, “Your birth mom loved you so much that she gave you away.” This could scare your child into believing that pretty soon you will love him too much and give you away too. Keep the wording simple: “Miss Clara wanted you to have both a mommy and a daddy and she knew that we were really excited to be your parents.”

Too often we get caught up in creating a masterpiece of a baby album that will include every bath, haircut, smile and tear. Instead, focus on just the adoption story for this small book and put a lot of the baby or family pages in other books. The sooner it’s ready for your child, the more time of their childhood they will reflect on it.

The Adoption Scrapbook Album is a fast, simple way to create a professional life book. Use transparency overlays and friends will admire-even though you aren’t crafty. Free poems and quotes from Lisa Copen at http://www.scrapbookadoption.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lisa_Copen
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Design-an-Adoption-Scrapbook-for-Your-Child&id=928538