Welcome to "My Kids Know"
I always thought children were to learn from their parents. Parents are to impart their knowledge to their children and children are to listen and learn. Children are to be the recipients of adult knowledge and wisdom and that we as adults have nothing to learn from our kids. What I now know is that I learn more from my children than they will ever learn from me.
Over a year ago I embarked on a journey of parental discovery. I came to realize that my children are wonderful teachers. I learned that by examining their stories, paying attention to their decisions, and listening to their thoughts and actions, I could learn life's most important lessons from my children.
After celebrating Christmas with my extended family, I sat on my mother's couch and started writing - writing what has become the book "My Children Know More Than Me! 15 Life Lessons from Foster and Adopted Children".
I intended to write a book about how my foster and adopted children had made an impact on the world. How their presence in my family had positively changed the lives of each person they have touched. Even though each of my children has indeed improved the lives of others, I was struggling to get the book to come together. My initial book plan was not working.
About three months into writing the book, I woke in the middle of the night frustrated by my lack of clarity. I stayed up the rest of the night examining each story I had written about each of my children. Next to each story I wrote one or two things that that child was demonstrating through their story, for example, persistence and determination or caring and compassion. As the sun came up, I had completed my analysis and discovered that my children's stories had illustrated fifteen important life lessons. I had that ah-ha moment - my kids were teaching me! That is what the book is about; learning from life's most important teachers - children.
So, I transformed the book I originally planed into a new exploration of the lessons my children have taught me. Ironically, the first lesson my children taught me was to Expect the Unexpected (and be okay with that). This unexpected book, uses my foster and adopted children's unique stories to explore important life lessons and inspire new understandings. Readers learn how children teach their parents about:
Personal Character:
Compassion Playfulness
Persistence Forgiveness
Trust Resiliency
Responsiveness Gratefulness
Living life with Purpose
Parenting Lessons:
Listening to the spoken and unspoken
Looking at life through your children’s eyes
Trusting in your children’s expertise
Expecting the unexpected
Attending to what is important
Honoring children’s birth families
The book "My Kids Know More Than Me! 15 Life Lessons from Foster and Adopted Children" will be available for pre-order on www.amazon.com at the end of January 2017. The book will be officially released on Valentine's day, February 14, 2017. You will be able to order your copy at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
