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Friday, February 24, 2012

Lingo

lin-go, noun /'lin-(,)go/
                the special vocabulary of a particular field of interest


My whole life I have had this tendency to talk before thinking or just blah! let words hit the air without much thought to there appropriateness. <my family shutters> And embarrassed myself many times.


Lately I've been hearing a lot of adoption talk and I'm starting to pay attention to the lingo. Some phrases that I have used for years don't sound so positive. I had never really thought much about it. Some of you know exactly what I mean.


Thanks to our lovely little adoption meetings, I have them on paper. These are some words and terms that I've been rolling around in my head:


Positive                                                      Negative
Birth Parent                                               Real Parent
Biological Parent                                        Natural Parent
Birth Child                                                 Own Child
My Child                                                     Adopted Child
Parent                                                        Adoptive Parent
Child Placed for Adoption                          An Unwanted Child
Child with Special Needs                           Handicapped Child
Was Adopted                                             Is Adopted


I don't want people to tip-toe around us, scared of offending us by using the <gasp!> wrong word. But I do know that words are a powerful way for us to reenforce how we really feel. 


My children will all be my children, whether they gave me morning sickness for 3 months or gave me heartache from missing their first months of life. 


So you won't hear me saying "these 5 are my own and we adopted him." At least I hope not. 


And my favorite is the last one; Baby, you were adopted, now you are my very own little boy! That's what I will say. When I finally see my baby boy.







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