Gladney Blog

We at Gladney along with the rest of the world have been following along with the devastating news about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We know this may bring up tough questions and feelings, particularly for our Russian and Ukrainian adoptees. Below are some resources that your family may find helpful. The first are some guidelines for how to support and discuss these events with your child, and the second are resources for providing support to Ukraine if your family wants to take some action and doesn’t know where to start.

Parenting these days comes with a free side of comparison. We can’t help it. Maybe in our parent’s time they compared us with the other kids in our class, or in our neighborhood. But in the age of social media, we are comparing with every other person we see on the internet. Looking at all those highlight reels, its easy to think we aren’t doing well. That other people have their lives together while ours is falling apart. And if you’re parenting a kiddo with a history of trauma, the trap of comparison can hit extra hard.

Looking for ways to celebrate AAPI heritage month? Check out dual language books! The book Series Mina Learns Chinese was created by Katrina Lui, an American born Chinese/Taiwanese mom whose mission is “To add more Asian faces to the world of children’s books and to leave a legacy for my daughter by creating books where she can see herself reflected in them.”

I switched from working full time in an office to working full time from home in 2016 when we moved to Houston for my husband’s job. Although grateful to work for an organization that offers this flexibility, it was a big transition that took adjustment and a lot of getting used to. It also happens to be a big transition that much of the country has been forced to make in the past few weeks. As a work from home veteran, I am here to share my story, and offer you some of the tips I’ve learned to keep myself productive and most importantly…sane.

The Power of Showing Up: How Parental Presence Shapes Who Our Kids Become and How Their Brains Get Wired.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click on a link and purchase something, Gladney may earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you.)

As a professional, I’ve been fascinated by attachment theory since I was in college and wrote at least three major papers on it. I have jumped at the chance to teach that section of our trainings as an excuse to go deeper into the research and learn more myself. And now that I am a parent, I see the workings of attachment every single day with my child, which has made me even more intrigued by it.

No Drama Discipline by Dr. Dan Seigel and Dr. Tina Payne Bryson is a must read for parents who want to use connected, respectful, and positive strategies when it comes to discipline. I literally recommend it to every parent I know. Concise, clear, and practical, it gives specific examples and things to try when disciplining our children, all while explaining the neuroscience behind them. A refreshing take in the world of “perfect parenting”, Dan and Tina even give examples of when they lost their cool as parents, or times when they used all the tools in their toolbox and still had to put a screaming toddler in the car. I think we can all relate. Here are just some of the things this book taught me as a professional and a parent.

The swinging bridge of Camp El Tesoro is a great metaphor for camp. It marks a crossing over into another world, it leaves you unsteady, and it requires a bit of an adventurous spirit and bravery to wobble across. That’s the leap that twenty children took, crossing over to spend a week at Gladney’s Camp Forge at the end of July.