How To Tell If You Were Adopted

March 3, 1999 | Issue 35•08

Hey, Kids!

Sometimes it's hard to figure out whether "Mom" and "Dad" are really your actual parents. Here are some things to look out for that mean you were adopted:

You're not allowed to get a trampoline.
Other family members enjoy foods that taste "yucky" to you.
You're made to sleep in your own private room, sequestered from the rest of the family.
Mom and Dad find occasions once or twice a year to shower you with gifts, so you won't feel so bad about being abandoned by your real parents.
You don't remember your parents bringing you home from the hospital when you were born.
Your parents call each other by names other than "Mommy" and "Daddy" to conceal their true identity.
Your parents don't let you go out at night, when your real parents might try to steal you back.
Only adopted, or "rejected," children have to brush their teeth.
You don't have the same eye and hair color as your parents, and you're not the same height.
Your parents sometimes go into their room and shut the door—this is to talk about whether the adoption was such a good idea.
Your parents are not as nice to you as your friends' parents are to them.
Your brother or sister has a nicer bicycle than you.
You're not allowed to get a puppy, because the puppy could tell by scent.
Once a week, Mom and Dad go to church, where they pray for a real child.