During last Wednesday’s meeting with our social worker we talked about our lifestyle and things we’ll do when we adopt.

The BAAF questions that we had to answer asked us about what we do on our weekends; who does what in our household; house rules; traditions/holidays/special occasions; religious or cultural practices; and activities.

It was particularly interesting to think about how we are a curious mix of going completely against gender expections in some areas, and completely ‘traditional’ in others. In our household, either one of us is just as likely to cook as the other. Hubby is less likely to clean than me, but not significantly so. We’re probably about 50/50 when it comes to taking out the rubbish (although I’m sure Hubby is convinced that he *always* does it). When it comes to DIY, we both have areas of specialty (I’ve done most of the tiling in the house, but I won’t touch wallpapering). On the other hand, Hubby enjoys working on the cars, so that’s definitely his domain. And he wouldn’t consider lifting his hand to clean the bathroom. So all in all, quite a mix.

We don’t have any rigid house rules. Although I do like the toilet seat and lid to be down (it looks like an open mouth otherwise!). But we’re not fussy about things. I don’t like my stuff being broken intentionally, but I don’t get very upset about accidents.

The ‘religious or cultural practices’ of course led us to a conversation about taking adopted children to church. We of course would plan to take our children to church with us. We would be sensitive to their needs and issues, though. My thought is that if a child is socially capable of going to school, that they can go to church. Many of our close friends are from church. They will be some of the people that the children meet first, and it includes several children who could end up being their friends.

After we talked through all of the worksheet questions, we asked our social worker to look at a profile on Adoption UK, and talk us thruogh it. We weren’t particularly drawn to those children in the profile, but they were in our ‘demographic’. It was good, as it was the last time we did this exercise. The social worker was able to read between the lines and explain what the real situation might be. There was a lovely video, too.

Next session is less than two weeks from this one. We have loads more worksheets. We are on holiday though, having a staycation, so we should be able to get them done in time.