Egle is called fourteen by her mother: the stories of the children in her care are sometimes incomprehensible to her mind

“We plan to take a biological boy and take a girl from the orphanage. Today we have three biological orphanages and 11 ”, reads the announcement of the new LNK program” From … To … “.

Since usually up to four children can be cared for, Egle Vaitkevičienė and her husband had to start a family; then 8 young people can be accepted under your roof at the same time. Although this meant that the family would become a legal entity, it would be more inspected, it would have to submit more reports, for Egle that was not the reason: the most important thing was not to identify the siblings, to allow them to grow together.

“There was no question that it was worth doing, but there was a lot of anxiety,” says Egle.

Although the arrival of the house of Eglė and Rimvydas today is in slight chaos, the relationship between parents and children is simply fascinating. Everyone feels free here, boldly demonstrates their feelings, interacts with their mother as friends, and even teenagers are not afraid to have access to hug her. However, it took a long time to come to such a connection.

“It just came to our knowledge then flour, all very cute, very smiling, then it’s over. There are salts, goats, natural evolution. Still, when you come as guests, you act as guests. And when there are no more guests, you try to force the rules. I think the recipe for our success is to start a relationship with children first and only then start demanding something and expecting something. Because if a child comes, I immediately hope that it will be orderly, polite, never change, I will just burn. “

Many children came into the family of Eglė and Rimvydas as teenagers, with their own character and rules. None of them had a difficult childhood, they arrived with injuries. So Egle says that the most important thing at first is to show them how to love, and only then to talk about the rules.

Many children have seen a completely different example before their lives, some have not seen it at all because they grew up in an orphanage. Therefore, Eglė admits that he was repeatedly shocked to hear what his children had to experience at their birth parents’ home.

“Let’s say that a ten-year-old girl knows how to take care of herself absolutely, she practically lives alone. Mom has an addiction and disappears from her life, then she has to build her own shoulders, bring water herself. When I asked him what he ate, he said I ate at school. But, I mean, you are only there for up to two hours … It is such a normal situation for a child who does not even go and complain, it is his life ”.

To this day, the family sometimes organizes opening nights in which the children sitting at a table share their feelings and experiences. According to Egle, children’s experiences are often difficult to understand.

“Six years for a girl, and she says, I knew where to hide when a drunk dad comes back. The basement is very scary, because it is cold, it is humid and there are rats, but I have to run to the basement and hide. “

Although most families today want to adopt only babies or young children, and think of teens as already difficult children who require more work, Eglė says he likes older ones better. “I’m not afraid of them, they are wonderful. There is something to do with them, not boring. We still have to find ways to access them and agree to them,” says Egle.

The whole inspiring story of Eglė Vaitkevičienė and his family of fourteen children – this Monday night at 8 pm on LNK’s “From … To …”.