If you had to adopt with these two as your only choices, would you adopt a toddler or an early to mid teenager?

I'd go for the teenager because first of all, everyone seems to adopt babies anyway. Also, teenagers go through a lot of emotional changes and they want to do more things, and while orphans don't have that type of exposer, I think it's more important to adopt a lonely teenager that wants to experience what other teens out there do with a new loving family to help them out. But that's just my opinion.

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

SW-User

I'd adopt a teenager, for sure, though my methods of creating discipline and structure would likely pose a problem to adoption agencies. I support tough love and rewarding ONLY healthy behaviour.

Love and understanding, by themselves, don't create healthy bonds, they only encourage teenagers to never grow up.

Teenagers seeking adoption don't want pity, being pushed into a family relationships and so on, they want to be treated as people with opinions. This is the main problem I've seen with adopted friends I've met, they felt infantilized and/or like the pet project of those adopting them.