8 Ways to Make a Baby Adoption Book for Your Little One

Posted on | February 18, 2009 |

Scrapbooking an adoption story is a fun way to put your child’s story down on paper for him or her to be able to look at photos and read in years to come. Too often, however, our best of intentions end up being a huge box of memorabilia in the closet, waiting until a chunk of time comes when we can do all the keepsakes justice by putting together the perfect album.

Don’t postpone your child’s adoption scrapbook any longer. It’s important that they get to flip through this book and share in the photos long before they go off to the university.

Here are a few ideas to guide you in scrapbooking your child’s adoption keepsake book (or a “lifebook” as some call it):

[1] Write everything down. As a new parent it’s easy to believe you will remember every special moment, but in no time you’ll be making loads of memories and some of your favorites will fade.

[2] Record what you know for your child which is appropriate for his or her little ears. Perhaps you were able to spend some time with the birth mom and you have some personal reflections on how kind she was. Or maybe you have no information at all if your child was adopted from an orphanage. It’s important to be honest but it also needs to be something that you can read from your book to your 5-year-old. If your child’s birth mom has many other children which she is still raising, or your child was the result of an abusive situation, this isn’t appropriate for the book.

[3] Arrange the photos you want to use in your album. You don’t want to use every phot you own, but rather just choose the ones that are the most precious for this particular album. Make sure everything is in order if you are you arranging the book chronologically

[4] Consider what size of album to you’d prefer. They are typically 8″ x 8″, 12″ x 12″ or 8.5″ x 11″. The 8″ x 8″ albums are a good size for little hands to hold and flip through.

[5] Try to find whatever supplies you’d like to use. I had a hard time being able to find anything other than a couple of stickers that mentioned adoption. Frustrated with this, I designed my own 8″ x 8″ overlay transparencies. Overlays are great because they make your book look like it was done by a professional, they is no glue or tape needed and anyone can use them (no skill required)

[6] Keep it simple. Start out by just getting the basics into the book and then you can add to it later. As you read through the story to your child and hear her questions, you may think of other pages to add or things that should be represented. For example, if you had a foreign adoption, you may want a page about “that year in history” from your child’s country of origin.

[7] Add some poems and quotes. When you lack information about your child’s birth or are overwhelmed by writing down all your thoughts, it’s a nice touch to add a few adoption quotes. But be sue to not rely on them completely. Quotes are nice and can add to the album, but it’s your own personal thoughts that will be most precious to your child as they get older.

[8] Use child-friendly language. For example, don’t ever write, “Your birth mom loved you so much that she gave you away.” This could scare your child into believing that pretty soon you will love him too much and give you away too. Keep the wording simple: “Miss Clara wanted you to have both a mommy and a daddy and she knew that we were really excited to be your parents.”

Too often we get caught up in creating a masterpiece of a baby album that will include every bath, haircut, smile and tear. Instead, focus on just the adoption story for this small book and put a lot of the baby or family pages in other books. The sooner it’s ready for your child, the more time of their childhood they will reflect on it.

Comments