If it’s your first time fostering a child, you might be nervous. Don’t worry, the foster child is nervous too. They’re going to be moving into a new home environment and meeting new people. They’ll have to adjust to going to a new school. Additionally, they’ll have a new room and new clothes; they may have to adjust to eating different types of food. The fact is, it’s hard to be a foster child. But, as a foster parent, there’s so much you can do to make things easier for them. Here are some tips to make things easier by consulting and involving them:
Consulting Your Foster Child
You may think that it’s up to you to make a lot of decisions for your foster child, but the fact is that they might have some opinions about things too. So if you’re not sure what your foster child would like to wear or eat, why not just ask them about it? Once these little things are out of the way, everyone will feel a lot more comfortable and the two (or more) of you can actually begin to get to know each other.
Involving Your Foster Child
Another thing that really makes a child feel wanted is when you involve them in everything you do. Of course, you do have to take the child’s age into consideration before deciding whether a certain activity is suitable for them.
For example, if the child is of an appropriate age to help with cooking, you can ask them to be involved in the process. If not, they can still help in laying the table and picking it up. Plus, you might want to involve the child in gardening, decorating, and any other thing you do around the house. They’ll love the feeling of being involved in everything and it will also keep them busy.
Learn More About Consulting and Involving Your Foster Child
Contact us for more great tips to help your foster child adjust to their new surroundings.