Telling your child that he has been adopted is often a test for families. Guest on the show Well done for you, Nathalie Lebreton, book columnist, explained at the microphone of Julia Vignali and Mélanie Gomez that the albums could be a good way to approach the history of the child. These albums “tell stories, give words and encourage people to talk too”, she said on Europe 1.
“Books today take the child into account, and you have to be able to take the child’s point of view into account, which is not easy”, specifies Nathalie Lebreton, who lists some books that lend themselves well to this exercise.
Preparing to tell the truth to your child
The columnist first evokes the book by Ingrid Chabbert and Stéphanie Augusseau, entitled One day my parents will come. “It’s a very nice book, sober”, underlines Nathalie Lebreton. “We see a little girl who lives in a relatively colorful world. She has the joy of children, but she is surrounded by walls. She cannot leave, be free and run away, and yet she has dreams”, she says in Well done for you.
“One day, a family comes to adopt him,” she continues. “What is strong is that what is said in her book is that she is happy, but is not yet ready for hugs, kisses. She has been a little suspended during all this time, and it will take time.” This book is to be shared with families who have just adopted a child, adds Nathalie Lebreton.
For children who want to know their genetic mother
Some children, aware of their adoption, wish to know more about their genetic mother. Normal behavior, according to Nathalie Lebreton, who advises a classic that has just come out in pocket format: The two mothers of Petirou. “He is very good because he took the symbol of the kangaroo which has a nice pocket to accommodate lots of babies, and sometimes in families, there are too many babies and you need to entrust your child because we do not feel capable”, explains the columnist with Julia Vignali and Mélanie Gomez.
“There can also be pockets where there are no babies at all, that’s what this story tells us,” says Nathalie Lebreton, who shares the main lines of the story. “He’s a little red kangaroo who wonders about his skin color because he has brown parents, and he doesn’t look like his parents. The story is classic, but it helps to address the notion of mother of heart and genetic mother (…) It is important to say that the child comes from a mother who, at some point, carried him and gave birth.
For little ones with a lot of imagination
We must not forget that children have a great imagination. On this subject, Nathalie Lebreton recommends the book Shhh, sleep by Dominique Jolin and Mika. “I really like the story of this little Marinette who, just before going to bed, grabs her mama of heart and says to her: ‘That’s it, mama, I know. I am the daughter of a king and of a queen. I was abducted by a little dragon and he dropped me, and you found me’. The mother of heart enters the game of history”, indicates the columnist.
“At one point, the mother of heart, completely exhausted, said to him ‘Listen, go to sleep’. We come back to reality”, continues Nathalie Lebreton, who considers that this book is “very good because in the end, no matter the family novel, these are beautiful stories, those that we told ourselves even when we did not have an adoptive parent.”