[cindy123456789]

I know this question may not apply to a lot of you. However, it cam up in chat list night and made me really think a lot about it again. As a foster parent, these children will come to me with a name. Sadly, on some "find a child" pages I see children whose names I could not spell, or begin to pronounce, much less hollar out the door to come in for dinner. I kinda made the comment, if I can't proinounce and spell it, I know the child at age 5 can't either. It hurts to see children like this left behind in school because the teacher doesn't want to hurt the child by calling the name incorrectly, or laughed at when they do. What can I as afuture foster parent do in this situation? Obviously, I can't legally change the name? How do you ask a child nicely what he or she likes to be called without hurting your chances to parent this child? How about sibling sets where all the kids (I ahve seen up to 5) have the first word of their name the same? If there is only one in the room, easy, but if you are trying to differentiate, they all saound the same. I could never be comfortable with calling hey, you there, come here. I don't know if any on these boards have ever dealt with these issues. I know they seem small, but they can make or break the ability to parent. No child, or adult likes to be called by the wrong name, and quickly loses respect form someone who cannot pronouce their name correctly. I want to do whats best, and learn from others experiences.

[maimms]

Hi... I haven't come across this situation, but I had a thought.... would it be appropriate to give the child a nickname? A name that everyone can understand and pronounce.

Just a thought..

Hope you resolve this dilemma.
Marge

[HappyMomAnna]

I have two thoughts--one the nickname idea works well for me--my kids are almost all nick named and so am I---

The other I learned from my mom--my borthers had common names and instead of hollering the names for dinner she got a whistle and blew it! Not only did she spare her voice but, it could be heard for miles!