Tuesday, September 30, 2008

More on Attachment

I'm really getting a lot out of reading the book on Attachment Disorders that I'm on currently, Parenting Other People's Children. It's been a bit hard to get into as the author is restating Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Bowlby's Attachment theories, and then reorganizing them together to identify "his" trust disorder paradigm. But, it makes a LOT of sense and really showcases "our" kids and the issues they have and why.

I came across another of Olivia's "issues" last night while I was reading. A lot of these things I just don't think about as being from a "cause", I just get frustrated or have no idea why she thinks or feels that way. It is all coming together now! A lot of what this author is saying relates back to the need level everyone has for safety and security. That is the second need level that infants piece together naturally. The first is having their physiological needs met (food, sleep, etc.). Safety and Security can be UNmet when a child/infant is consistently not getting their needs met. They don't learn to trust that their needs will be met. Most of "our kids'" issues can be attributed back to this. They still need the level of safety and security met. Just because they are safe NOW, doesn't transfer for them, because they weren't safe and secure for so long that this is not an easy fix and they are constantly reacting out of fear.

On to Olivia and my newest insight. Olivia often, if we have a day where our meals are a little different (for example we have a snack at breakfast time, a huge brunch, and then will eat an early dinner) will constantly ask about the perceived "missing" meal, in this example lunch. When is lunch? Did we miss lunch? Why aren't we eating lunch? This obviously doesn't happen often, but when it does it drives me nuts. Same when we went to my Grandma's surprise party recently. We ate donuts on the way out of town, stopped for lunch on our drive there, and then ate dinner at the party. Well, the party was from 2-5 pm, so "dinner" was eaten around 2:40-4 or so. We ate tons, then went to my aunt and uncle's, and then swimming at the hotel. She constantly was asking about dinner. Did we miss dinner? Were we going to eat dinner?

Now, these aren't saying that if Olivia was hungry we wouldn't feed her, we had snacks, etc but she was so put off by not having, in her mind, that meal. It all goes back to her feeling unsafe or insecure about not eating and not getting the food she needs. Wow! Even though she wasn't actually hungry in these times, she "missed a meal" in her mind, and was feeling extremely insecure about this. Duh! Why didn't I ever connect that before? I will try to be extra cautious in this area in the future and make sure if we have meals a little differently one day, that she has some snacks out she knows about and can eat if she feels the need. (Healthy snacks of course!) :)

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Let's Connect!

Search This Blog

Followers

About Me

I am a single mom to four amazing kids; each of whom just happen to have been adopted. The first three were adopted through foster care, and we just completed an international adoption from Haiti. Our family has grown through adoption and I am all the more blessed to know each of my children. I worship a mighty God, teach Special Ed, love bargains, and am inspired by Pinterest... come along with us for the ride!


Olivia - 14

Olivia - 14

Braeden - 11

Braeden - 11

Liam - 9

Liam - 9

Macy - 5

Macy - 5

Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

Blog Archive

What you should know about HIV

-HIV can NOT be spread through casual/household contact. HIV is not spread through hugging, kissing, shaking hands, sharing toys, sneezing, coughing, sharing food, sharing drinks, bathing, swimming or any other casual way. It has been proven that HIV and AIDS can only be spread through sexual contact, birth, breastfeeding and blood to blood contact (such as sharing needles). - HIV is now considered a chronic but manageable disease. With treatment, people who are HIV+ can live indefinitely without developing AIDS and can live long and full lives. - People who are HIV+ deserve to be treated with love, respect, support and acceptance as all people do. Additional information on transmission of HIV can be found on the Center for Disease Control website: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources

Other Awesome Blogs

Orphan Crisis

• 147 million orphans in the world
• 50 million orphans in Africa 
• Every 14 seconds a child is orphaned by AIDS
• 16,000,000 have been orphaned by AIDS
• Every week, AIDS claims as many lives as American fatalities in the Vietnam War
• 854 million people do not have enough to eat
• Malnutrition is associated with the deaths of 5 million children under the age of five
• Every 2 seconds an orphan dies from malnutrition


Hence the title of my blog

Little Did I Know

Little did I know that the road would be so rocky
Little did I know that the trip would take so long
Little did I know that my heart could hurt so much
Little did I know that God is never wrong

Little did I know that love could be so powerful
Little did I know that a dream so far could go
Little did I know that God would place the right ones
Little did I know that my heart, so large, could grow

Little did I know that a dream has it’s own timing
Little did I know that this day would finally come
Little did I know that four souls would be sent to guide me
Little did I know that they would choose to call me mom

But God knew all along and He had a plan to follow
God knew all along that my dream would soon come true
God knew all along that we five should be together
God knew all along that I’d share it all with you