So I was looking through a new craft book called Handmade Hellos* the other morning and came across an idea for a really super cute (and appropriate) baby announcement card. It was designed to look like a book and on the inside is a library due date card in a book pocket. The baby’s stats were listed on the due date card as “Title: [baby’s name], Authors [parents’ names]” and that’s what got me. Can I call myself the “author” of my future child? Or would we be more like the editors? Or the publishers? It feels like it would be plagiarism to call ourselves the authors of our adoptive baby. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but I think I’ll be skipping this announcement design in any case. There are lots of other super cute options out there. Just one more tiny example of the differences between adoptive and biological families. Or maybe not. Maybe biological families would feel weird calling themselves the “author” of their child too? How about calling yourselves the bindery? The illustrators?
*If you click on the link above and then look at image 6 of 6, you can actually see the page I’m talking about.
3 comments ↓
My take on it would be to have God be the author and you be the publishers-which makes more sense to me whether biological or adoptive. But, like you say, there are lots of options for you to choose.
yeah, i thought about that angle too. But I guess God isn’t mentioned specifically on many birth announcements. Except maybe in the “our gift from God” sense.
Wow, no, I do not view myself as an author. They have to write their own story. At any rate, I would NEVER spend time like that right after having a baby on birth announcements. Y’all are lucky to get a detailed E-mail with photos attached. Of course you on the other hand cut out leaf cookies by hand and “dried” them over rods to look crinkled for your graduation. Proof parents aren’t authors; few authors could write such different books.
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