Adoption proves that sometimes, you can choose your family; all about the process before, during and after adoption.
Every payday I do one thing. I pay bills, set aside what the family needs, and move the small remainder into a card I rarely touch. The amount is small enough that I would rather not say it out loud. A few days later I open the app and see the number has risen since last month. Something in me brightens. The feeling is ordinary and solid, like pulling a sun-dried blanket over my hands.
By Jin41 minutes ago in Families
Many children’s dependence on phones began during the pandemic online classes. Long periods of online schooling gave many kids early exposure to phones. Our family was stricter at the time, and we never gave our child a phone during elementary school.
By Jinabout 4 hours ago in Families
I once asked a kid who got into the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology whether she liked looking at her phone. She said, “There’s nothing much to look at on a phone.”
By Jinabout 5 hours ago in Families
A household with four grandparents, two working adults, and one child does not need a demographic model to feel the pressure. The monthly paycheck splits into four piles: pension top-ups and medical bills for the old, mortgage and utilities, childcare and school fees, and a reserve for the next emergency. When one pile grows, another shrinks. Fertility is usually the pile that disappears.
By Jina day ago in Families
1 The call came at eight in the evening. My mother answered. Her first sentence was always the same: “Have you eaten?” I said I had. She asked what I ate. I said tomato and egg noodles. She said, “Oh, that’s all right. Don’t keep ordering takeout.” I said okay.
When the two copies of the “Agreement to Sever the Father-Son Relationship” landed on the table, their paper edges pressed on the coaster. Xiao Liu wanted his father, Lao Liu, to sign. Lao Liu tore them up. The fight moved from the house to the courtyard. The two exchanged punches and kicks. Lao Liu picked up a broom and struck Xiao Liu, breaking a metacarpal bone. The injury was minor, Grade II.
By Jin3 days ago in Families
When I was little, nothing hurt more than this. I would be bubbling with excitement about something, school, a book, something I'd seen, and I would tell them, and they would listen, and then there would be no reaction at all.
By Jin5 days ago in Families
You can talk to your child at the dinner table. The table is not the problem. Losing your temper halfway through is. Many parents hear “Don’t discipline at the dinner table” and save the conversation for bedtime. The bedside turns into a courtroom. Others wait for the desk, and the first sentence is still “I’m doing this for your own good.” Some stop talking and tell themselves the child will understand later. A child does not open up because you moved to a different room.
By Jin8 days ago in Families
This is Andrew. My grandfather. Seventy-six years old. The first time I saw him as someone other than my grandfather, he was squatting in the yard with a small trowel, changing the soil for a pot of jasmine. His movements were slow but steady. Beside him was an enamel mug with tea stains at the bottom and tea leaves soaked pale.
That afternoon, my younger one dumped the blocks all over the floor, the older one was crying, and I was on my third round of picking things up when I suddenly stood, walked into the bathroom, and locked the door.
I made chicken wings for dinner. There were enough for the meal, not enough for second helpings. Erbao ate one wing and reached for another. The plate was empty. He looked at his cousin’s bowl. Three wings sat there. Erbao said nothing, looked down, and went back to his rice.
At 8:30 in the evening, the dishes hit the dining table. Steam from the tomato egg drop soup curled into the air. Braised pork ribs. Stir-fried greens with too much garlic—I'd been distracted. My back ached from standing in the kitchen since I got home at 6:15. Before that, I'd been at my desk since 5:30 AM, grading papers.
By Jin12 days ago in Families
