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If your family has a big all day celebration of Easter, take into account that your foster child may not have experienced Easter like this before. This can be very overwhelming to a foster child and cause a lot of stress that could lead to negative behaviors.
Most foster children that I have parented have not experienced Easter as most of us have with church, visiting family, cook outs, dressing up in pretty clothes, pictures, Easter bunny, and the biggie, hunting Easter eggs. Holidays in the past, for foster children could have bad memories since a most foster children come from dysfunctional families. This can bring so many different emotions up for a foster child to deal with. Guilt can be a major thing for them, guilty they are not with their bio family, and guilty because they are having fun. Confused or mad that they have not experienced this before, confused as to why things are so different with their bio family, or mad that they cannot share the experience with their bio family.
As foster parents we have to take the time and explain in great detail how Easter will be for them while sharing the holiday with your family. Do not expect the child to know or understanding what will happen during Easter. Preparing the foster child to what to expect can ease the child’s feelings and help control negative behaviors.
I have had foster children that did not know the first thing about how to hunt for Easter eggs and we had to do hand over hand until they got the idea. Another child has happy with picking up just one egg and wanted no more to do with it. Understanding that they cannot eat everything in their entire basket at once can also lead to a child acting out. Explain to them that it is their’s but they cannot eat it all at once and can eat a couple of pieces at a time. This will hopefully keep you for turning around and seeing one of your foster children having already eaten over half of the treats out of their basket. I made this mistake and dealt with a very, very hyper child for the rest of the day, not enjoyable.
Below you can find links to articles that can provide additional information on this subject. Stress can be something a foster child can be dealing with at your Easter celebration, so in the link below you will find ideas to help relief the stress for your foster child.
Foster children’s response to holidays read more here from adoption.com.
De-stressing tips for kids during holidays read more here from adoption.com.
“A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes
