Reason 4. Maybe it should actually be reason 3(a), since it’s sometimes linked to cultural commodification and co-optation. Embracing commodification of adoption. Adoption-themed crap. The stuff that breaks my general rule. Also included would be those terrible books. Orientalism. Racism. Maybe the way to sum this one up would be All the crap adoptive parents purchase that reflects ill-thought-out viewpoints of race and adoption.

Please, I really don’t want to see kids dressed up like little “China dolls.” But I find it even scarier to see some of you wearing those hats with queues attached or the brocades or the saris. The tee-shirts with incorrectly-spelled words in your child’s first language. The diaper bags with the Asian Flair. The bracelets with the little fortune cookie charms.

And golliwogs are really racist. If you run an adoption agency, I expect you to set a better example. (Who the heck owns a golliwog keychain or mousepad or mug anyway? I would be slapped silly the first day out.)

And I don’t want to see message tee-shirts ever. Because they send a different message for me. If your kid is wearing a tee-shirt that says “Mommy’s Little Guatling,” what I read is “I’m with stupid.”