During the Karyn Purvis pre-conference at Together for Adoption she talked a bit about kids from hard places and how they see themselves. She showed us several drawings done by these kids and explained what they meant. There is a real science to this – extremely fascinating.
Some of the pictures showed the adopted child off to the side of the rest of the family – they didn’t feel like they were part of a family. Others demonstrated how they felt trapped or angry or hurt.
Of course all us adoptive moms had a sudden urge to go home and ask all our children to draw a family picture.
Before I could even ask, I got this.
This is me, as drawn by Beza at school.
In real life I have short brown hair. It definitely would not go in pigtails. Does this indicated I’m not the white mommy she really wanted?
She drew me with a crown. Does that mean she sees me as a princess? Or the wicked queen?
I have cape. Am I Superwoman?
Then I asked her about the bikini top. Because I don’t wear a bikini.
“It’s not a bikini mom. It’s those things….”
<long pause while she searches for the right word>
“Coconuts!”
Um yeah, because I walk around in a coconut bikini top A LOT.