My son was watching a cartoon the other day, and I was surprised to hear the word "adoption" used. I watched the show for a couple of minutes to figure out the context and whether this might be something we needed to discuss further.

From what I could gather, a boy was returning his imaginary friend to a place where imaginary friends are "adopted" by children who want them. I did not follow why he placed his imaginary friend there, but he was clear that he planned to come back for him. The person in charge of the imaginary friend place said that another child could adopt his imaginary friend at any time but that, if he returned before another child adopted him, then he could have his imaginary friend back.

I tried to read my son's face to determine if we needed to talk about this, and he did not seem to have any reaction other than wanting to follow the story. I was concerned about him possibly getting the impression that a child could be "unadopted" as the imaginary friend was, but he did not seem to make that connection, so I guess I can breathe easy for the moment. He has not talked about it since, so I do not think it was any big deal to him.

It was a big deal to me, though. When I hear the word "adoption" used on a show that he is watching, I want to know the context. I need to assess how adoption is being presented so I can talk with him about it, especially if anything is said about adoption that might be hurtful or hard for him to understand. I really did not see this coming in a cartoon, but I guess after Meet the Robinsons, I should consider myself to be on notice for the topic of adoption popping up in all sorts of places.

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Photo credit: Lynda Bernhardt