Truly, truly maddening

I know I've complained about this before, but would someone please tell the media that raising a child makes you a parent - not just the act of giving birth?

I stumbled across this article about Nicole Kidman.

The quote that made my blood boil:

"Then, last July, Kidman gave birth to her first child, daughter Sunday Rose. Suddenly the long lenses were back, behind every bush and mailbox.

The new mother has reacted intensely with "whatever that primal thing is, the need and desire to keep her very protected," Kidman says."

This baby is not her first child and she is not a new mother! Her other children, Connor and Isabella, were adopted at birth and are now teenagers. The woman has been a mom for a long time now. But according to the media, I guess those were just practice kids and she's got her real one now.

I was in the delivery room when my daughter was born. The moment I saw her, I understood why people say that a mom can muster the adrenaline to lift a car off her child. I feel like I could lift a bus (fully-loaded) off my daughter if I had to. I know her by heart. My nostrils carry the scent of her hair and my fingertips are moist with her tears. Being her mom is my greatest joy, and anyone who thinks otherwise will be wearing the aforementioned bus.

Comments

Mary said…
Some people are idiots. I don't have to be an adoptive mom either to know adoption=mom (dad, parent)to the full extent of the word. I've seen adoptions take place when a child is 2 years old, age isn't a issue here either, you become parents, not fake parents but real parents! Why should it matter how your child comes into your life? Adoption is it's own miracle just as giving birth yourself.
November 6, 2008 at 9:31 AM
Susie said…
Yep, I saw this article too. Maddening is right. Sigh. I really doubt that the masses will ever understand that a mom is a mom is a mom is a mom, regardless of how her children came to be. And I happen to have a bio and an adopted child, and I can say from experience that I love them just the same and can't imagine life without either of them. For her to act this way is appalling and only encourages people to keep up their naive attitudes about adoption. I say phooey on them!
November 6, 2008 at 1:10 PM
Sam said…
It's so frustrating and insulting--most of all to the children. My sister's kids are adopted and she and I have often noticed the way the media talks about celebrities' adopted children. It's maddening. The way Nicole Kidman's first children have been disregarded makes me so sad.

I'm pregnant with my first now, but my husband and I are planning on adopting from Vietnam in the future. (My husband is from Vietnam.)
November 6, 2008 at 3:24 PM
Anonymous said…
Amen. And God Bless.
November 6, 2008 at 10:40 PM
Jen said…
Statements like that make my blood boil too. And I've mentioned it many times in message boards and such. Why even say "her adopted children" at all. They are her children!

My father adopted me and he is my real father. Two of my children I did not give birth to and they are really my children. Some people just don't get it!

Jen (but not your favorite one :P )
November 7, 2008 at 1:49 AM
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