Adopted: Past Tense

http://abc.go.com/shows/supernanny

Monday we discuss "junk drawer" contents, and do I have some junk for you!

Forgive me while I take a short detour down Pet Peeve Lane.

This evening I stumbled across an advertisement for Super Nanny--the show about the one and only Jo Frost who changes lives one family at a time by teaching adults how to parent. Her advertisement for the most current episode reads:

Jo helps a mother of four adopted children maintain control of the house.

Now, I am all about adoption. I really am. I am not ashamed to say that I was adopted or that I am adopting. But it bothers me (read: infuriates me) when people use "adopted" to define the problem, malfunction, or shortcoming of a person or situation. If we are going to define people by the way they enter their family, I suggest the following headlines in upcoming newspapers:

Activist, born via Caesarean section, attacked in his home.

Child, born prematurely, expelled from school.

Lady, born at the side of the road during a snowstorm, succumbs to lung cancer.

And while we are on the topic: Adoption happens once and then it is over. Adoption isn't who you are--it's how you arrived. Adoption isn't any more to blame for personal shortcomings than, say, being born in a swimming pool in the center of your mother's living room.

. . . which requires a whole second post and new supply of energy.