Stahlke Adoption

"Really?"

The membership of FRUA (Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption) has been receiving information about the case of Artyem Saviliev. He is the eight-year-old Russian boy whose American mother returned him to Moscow. One of FRUA's messages included a discussion guide about the incident:

There are times when events going on outside your family affect how your children feel about themselves and whether or not they see their world as a safe place. The recent situation in which an American parent sent her young adopted son back to Russia has had an impact on adopted children. Adopted children, from the very young to the older teenager, can have unexpressed emotions when they hear about events like this. Use this discussion guide to talk with your children about what has occurred.

It surprised me, therefore, when Kola brought up a recent news item and it wasn't the Artyem story. Instead, he was quite worried about the volcanic eruption in Iceland. I had told him that Iceland is in Europe, and he therefore thought it was close to Ukraine. He told me he had dreamed about the volcano, and that he had seen a woman falling into the hole at the crater. When I asked him who she was, he gave me the name of his birth mother. I decided to reassure him that people can't actually fall into a volcano. When it's spewing hot material, the hole is full. And when it's done, the ash and lava harden and fill the shaft.

Last summer we visited Mt. Hood in Oregon, and the children played happily in snow near the lodge. When I told Kola that the "mountain in Oregon with snow" was actually a volcano, he stared at me with that "really?" look. After querying me about how long ago Mt. Hood had erupted, he thought carefully for a long time and then made an announcement. He would only visit volcanos covered with snow, since they couldn't erupt if they were cold.

posted by Stahlkes @ 9:29 PM