Rent 100th Day Hanboks and Korean First Birthday Hanboks!

 

littleseouls.com

Here is one of our customers who ended up renting the 100th day hanbok for Baek-il from us and then later renting the first birthday (Size 1) hanbok from us later for his Doljanchi. Kids outgrow their hanboks, so renting is a practical option instead of buying one! Our hanbok rental selection is always being updated and we are open to adding more - feel free to contact us if there is a specific design you are trying to locate.

Welcome Home Giveaway Winner!

Congrats to the Lee Family!

Hear their personal adoption story below. Thank you for sharing! And congrats to your upcoming arrival of your son!

We are a second time around adoptive family waiting for our second son to come home. Our daughter was also adopted from Korea (pictured with us and our biological son). Our son's name will be Jamin S. Lee. We decided to adopt after our son Jadon was born with medical issues (that did resolve over time with no adverse effects) but were told by our doctor that a second pregnancy would be very dangerous. My husband grew up in Daegu, Korea and I worked in Daegu for 4 years as an ESL teacher/professor. So, we went ahead and adopted our daughter Arianna from Korea three years ago. After meeting many Korean American
families who mostly adopted girls, we realized there was a need (if we were going to
adopt again) to adopt Korean boys. So, here we are waiting for our little Jamin to
come home! I would LOVE to win this because the bedspread I picked for our son's bed
actually has airplanes on it like the poster!

Diaper Poop Alarm Device

Here is an interesting product made in Korea to detect poop in diapers. An alarm and light goes off once it detects urine and feces. I can see this being useful in a daycare setting when many babies are being cared for at once. But I personally think a mother's smell is good enough..

July Baby of the Month Contest

If you haven't yet won a Baby of the Month contest, you can submit us a photo, name, address and permission to use photo to contest@littleseouls.com.

We have given great prizes in the past, such as pajamas, videos, podeagis, play mats and dolls. This month's prize will be a Korean Cookbook!

Campaign to Promote Adoption Seems to be Helping

This article just came out from Joong Ang Daily.

"Even Fertile Parents are Deciding to Adopt Kids"

Kang Eun-mi, living in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, is happily married with three children: a 12-year-old son and two daughters, one aged six years and the other 17 months.

Kang said she loves all of her children, though only one of them is biologically hers. Kang adopted the two daughters when they were newborns.

“I wanted my son to have siblings,” Kang said. She adopted her two daughters though she was still physically capable of bearing more children, she said. Kang has been open about adoption with her family, relatives and neighbors as well as her two daughters.

“I see them as my own children. Sometimes I’m confused about which one is an adoptee and which one is not,” Kang said.

Kang is one of a growing number of Koreans who choose to adopt a child, in a slow but clear departure from Confucian norms that highly value blood ties and family succession.

There is an old saying in Korea: “One shouldn’t take in a hairy animal.” It literally means that one should never adopt a child. This thinking has resulted in many Koreans orphans being sent abroad.

But as times change, not only are infertile couples adopting, but so too are fertile couples, such as Kang and her husband.

The number of adoption cases in which the adoptive parents already had children was 333 in 2000. The number jumped to 831 by 2007.

Some people have come to believe that not only their biological child but also a child who is not related by blood can be part of their family.

Kim Jeong-ah adopted a son in February 2007; he is now 25 months old. Kim also has a 13-year-old daughter by birth.

“I could never raise another person’s child,” she says, ironically. “I never felt that my son is not my child - because he is my child,” Kim said. “The perception that one’s own biological child can only be his or hers is fading.”

“People are getting out of the patriarchal idea that they need to pass on their name and wealth only through their own biological child,” Kang said.

Han Youn-hee, director of the Mission to Promote Adoption in Korea, said increases in the number of people open to adoption and in the number of children older than infants who are adopted are evidence that people have a more positive attitude toward adoption.

There is also an increasing number of young couples who adopt children.

Kim Hong-rae, 34, and Lee Seol-ah, 34, who live in Siheung,
Gyeonggi, adopted a four-month-old son in October. The two are considered relatively young among adoptive parents. Most parents who adopt are close to age 40.

Lee, who runs a private academy for children, decided to adopt a child though she could have a baby of her own.

“Children in my hagwon told me things that they could not tell their parents,” Lee said. “Looking at parents who can’t understand their own children, I realized giving a child proper care is more important than being a biological mother.”

Adoption agencies have tried to publicly promote adoption and the efforts are bearing fruit. Adoption by celebrities such as the Cha In-pyo and Shin Ae-ra also helped change attitudes about adoption.

The government has helped increase adoptions by offering to pick up part of the tab for medical and child-rearing expenses. Beginning in 2008, the government also started covering fees paid to adoption agencies. To promote adoption, the government has designated May 11 as Adoption Day.

The efforts are paying off.

In 2007, locally adopted Korean children outnumbered those adopted outside the country for the first time in the country’s history. Some 1,388 Korean children were adopted domestically while 1,264 were sent abroad. In the same year, the government gave priority to local adoption by suspending foreign adoption of infants less than five months old.

There is something else that is changing in the local adoption scene. Adoptive parents are becoming more forthcoming about their choice. Until a few years ago, most adoptive parents concealed the fact they adopted a child.

According to Holt Children’s Services, which accounts for 35 percent of local and foreign adoptions of Korean children, as late as 2001 only a quarter of adoptive parents openly discussed their choice with their child, relatives, friends and neighbors. The percentage grew to 57 percent in 2007.

Still, nearly half of all adoptive parents keep the adoption a secret to be hidden from their adopted child and those outside the family.

“They want to hide it forever. They want to protect their adopted kids from potential disadvantages, such as prejudice against adoptees,” said Yoo Hae-yeon, head of Holt One Love. Yoo, 50, has two adopted sons.

“But it’s not possible to hide it forever,” Yoo said.

Kang said she started telling her first daughter that she was an adoptee after she turned three years old. “She first tried to deny it. She was angry and upset. She cried. But eventually she took it to heart,” Kang said. “Now she is comfortable about being an adoptee. She says someday she wants to find her birth mother.”

Despite increased adoption in Korea, the nation still is a top exporter of orphans among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. As of 2007, Korea was the fifth largest exporter of orphans, behind China, Guatemala, Russia and Ethiopia, according to World Partners Adoption Inc.

Korean parents who wish to adopt a child are selective. They prefer girls over boys, and healthy babies over unhealthy ones.

The number of female adoptees has recently exceeded the number of male adoptees in Korea by over a two-to-one margin. Thus, the number of boys adopted out of Korea has always exceeded that of girls.

“People say it is more rewarding, and easier, to raise a girl than a boy,” Yoo said. “Parents are also afraid that boys are difficult to deal with when they get older.”

Inheritance issues have held people back from adopting a son. However, Kang said inheritance was never an issue for her when she decided to adopt two daughters. “We don’t have much wealth,” she said. “And even if we did, we would not pass down it to our children. We want to enjoy life when we get older.”



By Limb Jae-un Staff Reporter [jbiz91@joongang.co.kr] Photo taken from Holt Korea Website.

Our Baby of the Month Winner

Here's Hudson wearing the pajamas he won!

Thank you Jane for sending us this picture!

Popular Korean Baby Names in 2007

Here are the top 5 most popular Korean baby names according to urii parenting site.

Girl Names

1) Suh Yeon
2) Yeh Eun
3) Ha Eun
4) Min Jee
5) Jee Min

Boy Names

1) Woo Jin
2) Joon Hyun
3) Gun Woo
4) Do Hyun
5) Joon Hyuk

Baby of the Month Contest

Next month the prize will be a play mat and Korean music CD. Enter now! Email us at contest@littleseouls.com with the subject "Baby of the Month Contest". And please specify that you give us permission to use your baby's photo for the contest.

We will now be calling it "Baby of the Month" since all babies are cute! The winner will be randomly picked.

Enter now and get something FREE!

Dol - First Birthday in Korea

Birthday Table
The parents prepare a special Tol table to celebrate the child's birthday. The main food includes ddeok (rice cakes) and fruits. Over 12 different kinds of ddeok are prepared, including paekseolgi (white steamed rice cakes), susu-kyongdan (rice cakes coated with rough red bean powder), chapsal-ddeok or chal-ddeok, mujigae-ddeok (rainbow colored steamed rice cake), songp'yeon (half moon shaped rice cakes), injulmi (coated glutinous rice cakes), and gyep'i-ddeok (puffed air rice cakes). Among these, paekseolgi and susu-kyongdan are always included. Fruits can vary according to the season of the birthday. Different colors of seasonal fruits can be prepared and displayed in a row. Also, a bowl of rice, sea mustard soup, and many other various foods can be displayed.

Along with food, other items are needed for holding the Toljabee event. Items such as large bundle of thread, a brush, a Korean calligraphy set, pencil, book, money (10,000 won bills), bow and arrow (needle, scissors, and ruler for girls) are arranged on the table to predict the child's future.

Table Setting The birthday child will be placed at the table so that the other guests can face him or her. Parents often sit the child on the bolou (Korean traditional mattress) and several bangsuk (Korean cushions). Since the child is small, this allows for getting better pictures. For the background, a Korean traditional screen is used at the hotel or other banquet hall.

Toljabee Event
In this event, the birthday child goes around the table and picks up items that attract him or her. The child's future is predicted according to the what he or she grabs. After placing the child in front of the table, the child's father becomes the guide for the child to go around the table and grab whatever he or she wants. The first and second items the child grabs are considered the most important. Usually Korean parents place the items that they want the child to choose near to the edge of the table. The child's future is predicted according to the items:

-bow and arrow: the child will become a warrior
-needle and thread: the child will live long
-jujube: the child will have many descendants
-book, pencil, or related items: the child will become a successful scholar
-rice or rice cake: the child will become rich (some resources say choosing a rice cake means the child is not smart)
-ruler, needle, scissors: the child will be talented with his/her hands
-knife: the child will be a good cook

Taken from lifeinkorea.com