We are adopting a 6 yr old child and we want to make a family album for him to learn about his new family?

sunny

Yes, I have suggestions. Please get as much information and pictures about his family of origin as possible. Please don't let this information drift away. Please know that this information may not be important to you, it will be VERY important to him.

Torrejon

Consider that reading skills of a 6 year old are not going to be up to the task of long written explanations. I'd recommend lots of pictures and graphics.

Annie A

I agree. Lots of pictures of new family members, pets, his bedroom, his new house, the neighborhood, etc. Not a lot of words,since he is only 6, but frequent mentions of his name. And I would leave specific pages/spots open with notes that say "Future picture of Child in room" or "Future picture of child with dog" so they see how they fit in the picture.

Oh, and make sure to include cousins and kids that he will soon meet with names and relationship - the more knowledge he has in advance the better.

Annie

I use my publisher to do all my family picture albums. They have several sizes available. Price depends on size and number of pages. They usually have coupons also. Just do a google search on online coupons for my publisher.
There are several companies that do the same. Including CVS, Kodak, etc. If you do a search on photo album online you can find dozens to choose from. I created a really neat 'Thomas the train' album that looks like a kid's book using shutterfly.com. They have several characters and you can even add text to it.
Good luck and congratulations on the family addition.

Staying Quiet

myheritage.com MAY have some helpful tools
good luck and congrats!

mommaknowsbest

this is wonderful idea to help your soon to be son get to know the faces of people he will be seeing. I would suggest getting and 8x8 size scrapbook and put one picture of each family member per page. You could mount the pictures on colorful paper to make them stand out more as well. Underneath or on top of each picture put the persons name like "Grandma" , "Grandpa", "Aunt Susie" etc.. You may even find some punch outs or little embellishments you could use on each page that shows something that each person likes. So if grandpa likes fishing you could find some fishing themed scrapbook stickers for his page. If grandma likes baking find scrapbook sitckers for hers etc..
Don't forget to make pages for "Mommy", "Daddy" and each of the siblings (if any) he will have. Include your household pets too. This is a great idea and such a special book he will have of his family.

LindsayM

Wont they figure out who you and your family are soon enough?

This is a celebration for you, not them!

Buda411

Try www.publisher.com you can add your own pics and words. This is a great idea, my Mom did it for me when she adopted me when I was 6yrs old. Your child will really appreciate that!

jgf5822

please be sure to make one for the life he already has, as well.

Jennifer L

When we adopted older children, we made a photo album for them. But since it was an overseas adoption and everything had to be couriered, we had to keep it very small and lightweight.

We included pictures of the immediate family, pets and their rooms. We opted not to include the large extended family because did not want to confuse the kids on who exactly is living in the house. Pictures of your family doing fun things as well as simple descriptions is great.

Our albums were passed around quite a bit and we noticed that the kids not only looked at us in the pictures, but EVERYTHING in the background. Example: we have a painting of a buffalo that was in one of the pictures and we were asked by many children what that furry cow was.

Good luck!

BPD Wife

This is a great idea. I agree that you should probably keep it simple with small captions, etc.

When we were adopting, our son's bio family gave us a photo album of his first 6 months with them. If you have any way to gather that information for your child, please do so. When my son asks questions about when he was born, we pull those pictures out to show him.

Another parent here once mentioned that as soon as they have a new foster child placed with them, they immediately take the child to have professional pictures made. I thought this was a great idea.

Congrats on your new family.

Santa's Lil' Helper

Consider of book from his biological family too.....this is very important to kids.

Please include pictures of the parents when they were kids (if at all possible).....I have some of dd's mom and she loves them.

I think pictures of any extended family would be great....dd has her grandfather's nose.....and now she has no need to wonder. It may seem little to you but it means a heck of allot to the kids

Please explain to your extended family that this book is special to your child and that they are to feel honored if she shares it with them. Telling then ahead of time eliminates the shock factor from some adults.

opedial

Keep it simple that is most important.

As for those talking about family of origin books, they are called life books and are created by foster parents.

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