part 1, introduction
What is atachment parenting? Well, I could sum it up here but Dr. Sears did it much better here. So go read or skim that article then check back here. I will also add to the Dr. Sears article that attachment parenting is a mindset, not a prescribed formula. You don’t have to go down the list and do everything on it in order to be connected to your child. You can formula feed and be an attached parent. The things listed are actions that reflect a mindset in an ideal behavior, not the only behavior. OK, now I will share a little of my journey. I have always been a reader. And in school, if you wanted to learn something, you looked it up in a book. So the books I read during my pregnancy were given to me by people I knew. One was something you will find in nearly every place that sells books in America, What to Expect When You’re Expecting. The other was Babywise by Gary Ezzo. Reading those two books, I decided, would prepare me for motherhood and breastfeeding. So when I had Todd, that was my informational mindset. And parenting was a doozy, as it is to everybody. Suddenly I realized why tax forms call children dependents. Because they depend on you for everything! A spouse is quite self-sufficient in most cases, but a newborn is as dependent on you as anything can possibly be. And that’s rather stressful to have a person’s entire livelihood depend on your actions. But you plunge ahead anyway, because there’s not too many other options. Now I am on baby number three, and ohh, how much easier it is! I have learned a lot about babies. Now I’m joining the ‘clueless about 3 year olds’ club with my oldest boy and have lots of cluelessness in that arena. But I have passed along by What to Expect book and thrown Babywise in the trash, and over the ‘attachment parenting’ posts I will go into the different aspects of attachment parenting and how they’ve changed how I respond to my kids. I don’t know even close to everything, but I no longer fear that I am not doing the right things. And in the world of parenting, confidence is a precious, rare, and beautiful tool.
Are there any AP books you would recommend?
Dr. Sears is an excellent author, he has The Pregnancy Book, The Baby Book, the Discipline Book, the Breastfeeding Book, and The Attachment Parenting Book. His website is an excellent resource. For breastfeeding questions I have heard that kellymom.com is an excellent resource as well. There are probably other great books out there, I am new to it so I haven’t found them yet!
Happiest Baby on the Block is another good one. I don’t have the book, but I have a parenting DVD that the author made. Anyway…That’s great that your are following more attachment parenting now the babywise. I cringe whenever I hear someone mention using babywise. I’m glad you threw your book in the trash!