Raising a Healthy Adopted Child: Physical Health

It's July! That means this is the month in my summer series to talk about the Physical Health of the adopted child. Physical Health has so many different aspects to it, so we'll limit our discussion to the common areas of Physical Health that we can control as parents.

One thing we can do, especially if we are parenting a child from another country, is to keep them in touch with their heritage through the Physical act of eating. Providing foods from a child's home country can be very beneficial. A major plus for Mae's Chinese foods is the opportunity it presents for getting together with other families who are either Chinese themselves or have adopted.

This link to Chinese food is as strong for Mae as bagels and lox are to the Jews (mmm....lox). While lo mein noodles and tofu make a delicious meal, it is often the snacks that make her smile the most. While I haven't been able to find the cracker-tasting, rawhide-looking treat in the picture to the left, she loves the "shrimp chips," moon cakes, and steamed egg, foods I doubt we would serve if it weren't for her.

We often talk about what a good eater she is (though in reality she is fairly picky). Because she will eat foods other than American fare all the time, she has pride in those foods and in herself as an adventurous eater. Luckily for our family, we all love Chinese restaurants, so at least there is one cuisine we can all enjoy together.

Join me here next week to discuss Sensory Processing, Speech Therapy, and what to expect "At the Doctor."

Does your adopted child have a favorite food that she has brought to your family? Have you continued to offer it to her? Do you agree that food should be a strong link to a child's culture?