Many hopeful adoptive couples find that the wait to be chosen by birth mother gets tedious, and even more so during the holiday season. To keep yourself and your spouse motivated during your adoption wait, we’re sharing 5 tips with you today:
1. Find with Other Waiting Parents
Establishing a connection with other waiting adoptive parents will give you support during your adoption wait. You can find other waiting couples online or in person, in adoption support groups. There are tons of groups around the US which are aimed at supporting parents in their adoption journey. Search for a group close to you or online. Then, begin talking with people who can empathize with what you are going through right now.
2. Discuss the Adoption Process
Find others you’re close to and with whom you’re comfortable discussing your adoption journey. You may feel that your family and close friends are sick of hearing about your adoption, but most likely they aren’t. If your friends are true friends, they’ll listen and continue to support you. If you’d rather not keep talking with the same friends about your adoption, we suggest that you find a group of adoptive mothers or an adoption support group.
3. Make a Progress Chart
It’s beneficial for you to be able to see your progress on a chart. Just make yourself a chart of all the steps needed to achieve your goal of adopting. As you finish each step, you’ll be able to see tangible proof that you’re moving toward your goal. You may feel silly doing this but remember: before you know it, you’ll be holding your beautiful baby in your arms.
4. Treat Yourselves
As you complete each of your steps on your progress chart, reward yourself and your spouse. Maybe your reward will be going to go out to a romantic dinner at the new hot spot in town. Or, maybe you’ll get that dress you’ve been eyeing for a while. It really doesn’t matter what you pick as your reward; the main idea is to find rewards that’ll keep you motivated.
5. Have Fun
Many find it difficult to have fun when they’re aching so badly to be parents. You’ll need to have a sense of humor when you become a parent, so now is a good time to start! Appreciate this time you have, waiting and anticipating the new addition to your family. Before you know it, you’ll be parenting the baby of your dreams!
