THE OTHER SIDE – ATTACHMENT PARENTING

Thanks for reading yesterday. Today I want to address Attachment Parenting. WebMD in their article entitled What Is Attachment Parenting? lists the principles of this method of parenting.

The Eight Principles of Attachment Parenting

• Prepare for pregnancy, birth, and parenting. Proponents of attachment parenting believe it is important to eliminate negative thoughts and feelings about pregnancy. Doing so, they say, readies a parent for the emotionally demanding work of being a parent. Feed with love and respect. Breastfeeding, proponents say, is the ideal way to create a secure attachment. It also teaches infants that parents will listen to their cues and fulfill their needs.
• Respond with sensitivity. With attachment parenting, parents consider all expressions of emotions, including repeated tantrums, as real efforts at communication. Those efforts are to be taken seriously and understood rather than punished or dismissed.
• Use nurturing touch. Attachment parenting proponents advise maximum skin-to-skin touching. Ways to achieve that include joint baths and "baby-wearing" -- carrying babies during the day in a front-facing sling.
• Engage in nighttime parenting. Attachment parenting experts advise making "co-sleeping" arrangements. With co-sleeping, an infant sleeps in the same room with parents so they can feed and emotionally soothe the child during the night. Some parents practice "bed-sharing" or sleeping in the same bed with babies. It's thought that this creates an even more secure attachment. Precautions are advised, though, to help prevent sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.
• Provide constant, loving care. Proponents of attachment parenting advise the nearly constant presence of a parent. That includes during walks, parents' night out, and work. They advocate against childcare for more than 20 hours a week for babies younger than 30 months old.
• Practice positive discipline. Parents are advised to distract, redirect, and guide even the youngest of babies, and to model positive behavior. Attachment parenting aims at understanding what a child's negative behavior is communicating. And parents are encouraged to work out a solution together with a child, rather than spanking or simply imposing their will on children.
• Strive for balance in personal and family life. Parents are encouraged to create a support network, live a healthy lifestyle, and prevent parenting burn-out.

This morning there is more controversy on the news about the Time magazine photo of the Mom breastfeeding her 4 year old. There is a new cover for a different magazine, Pathways to Family Wellness. There are some really good concepts they propose. I believe in positive discipline. Those of you that have been reading this blog for a while know I believe that yelling at kids is like trying to steer a car by honking the horn. I believe we do not cherish children enough in this current society. My concern is that in the extreme this goes against so many cultural norms that there is a very strong reaction to all of this. Also, I wonder if the research will play out that these children become as independent and self-assured as they indicate. My worry is that this in the extreme could foster dependency and lower self-esteem because of not being placed in a situation that encourages independent decision making in a difficult situation.

So where do you line up. Let us know. Sherri

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Thanks for reading yesterday. Today I want to address Attachment Parenting. WebMD in their article entitled What Is Attachment Parenting? lists the principles of this method of parenting.