Preparing to welcome an almost kindergartener into this home is interesting.
I have welcomed two baby girls from scratch and have done a fairly good job with them so far.
As we prepare ourselves and our house for the home study, however, I realize that I may need to ask even more questions of the adoptive parents I'm connecting with so I can make wise safety choices.
In the safety audit for our home study report, many of the requirements are followed with the caveat: "as the age of the child requires" or "as appropriate for the age of the child." I understand that if this were a domestic adoption of an almost five-year-old for whom English is her first language and a Western experience is common, this might be an easier task.
For us, though, we're dealing with someone who has not been exposed to a lot of commonplace household items and for whom English is not yet a comfortable thing.
With my from scratch daughters, I was a matter-of-fact parent. The girls, even pesky little M2, did not get into things. It only took one or two times of me explaining the difference between 'fun bubbles' (those in the tub or the ones blown outside) and 'acky bubbles' (those in a bucket full of cleaning solution) for them to understand the difference. To this day, either one of them may be heard referring to a bucket full of water and Murphy's oil soap as 'acky bubbles.'
With M3, though, I know we will be surprised in some ways. Like, I'm sure she will be more self-sufficient than we will imagine given that she is likely responsible for herself and maybe even for assisting some of the tinier kids in her orphanage. She may be able to bathe herself proficiently, dress herself without much help and help with some household things. But, we will likely be surprised at her interest in some things that we consider mundane, but that could be dangerous to her...like electrical outlets, fresh smelling cleaning products, and even small toys that resemble food.
This could be an interesting process...I hope I'm up to the challenge! If anyone reading this has suggestions, I'd love to read them in comments!
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