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We were always just Mom and Dad, too. Our kids didn't match us, so the fact of their adoptions was obvious.
I am always taken aback when introductions are made and the parents say, "this is my daughter XX, this is my son XX, and this is my adopted son XX." We never had kids by birth so maybe I'm missing something, but it just seems odd to me to make introductions that way, setting the adopted child apart with the 'adopted' label. That just seems wrong to me.
Parents who brag about having adopted their child, implying it somehow makes the parents somebody special, set my teeth on edge, too. Sometimes it's like they think they should be given kudos for it or something.
The worst remark ever made to me by another adoptive parent, while discussing our children's origins, was after we had adopted the last five who were black and from the US. We also had two Korean daughters and one from Brazil. The woman asked me, "Couldn't you afford to adopt from Korea again?" That question was just so wrong on so many levels, and I was caught so off guard I couldn't even come up with a good response. Until that moment, I was so naive I hadn't even realized there was a hierarchy in adoption. At that time, Korea was the 'Cadillac of adoption.' Stupid us, we had just wanted to adopt some kids and picked Korea because it was easy in our state, not because it was some kind of elite thing.
It's amazing what a person learns over a lifetime of dealing with other people.
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