Attachment parenting - 60 minutes

 Attachment parenting - 60 minutes

I saw the 60 minutes program  a few weeks ago about attachment parenting which was aired on the back of the Time magazine article some months ago. This attachment parenting topic is getting so much attention .
Again I was disappointed to feel that the underpinning attachment parenting activity is to breastfeed until your child chooses to stop and the sleeping alongside with your baby debate. I definitely support breastfeeding and the idea of children with a healthy attachment to their parents and other close adults, however there are a number of issues that reports such as the sixty minutes program presented that give me cause for concern.
The first is that to choose attachment parenting means that you have to breastfeed. From my understanding, breastfeeding is one aspect of attachment parenting, however ensuring your child receives adequate nutrition must over ride breastfeeding in those circumstances where breastfeeding just does not happen successfully despite the mothers best efforts. I fear this type of hype alienates those mothers for whom breastfeeding just doesn’t work for various reasons.
Another concern is that in the sixty minutes program, it was mentioned that if everybody practised attachment parenting all the parenting manuals and books would be obsolete. Not so. There would be a rush of new manuals on how to parent following attachment principles.

Programs such as sixty minutes just give a snippet of information and give parents the world over a new reason to worry that they are not being a good enough parent and put more pressure on new parents to be perfect parents.
There is far more to attachment parenting than extended breastfeeding and sharing a bed with your baby or child. Attachment parenting focusses on a healthy emotional bond between a child and significant others in their world.
Responsiveness to your child’s needs, managing your own emotions and beliefs, being a good role model, looking after yourself, being aware of your limitations and being the parent who is bigger, wiser, kinder, stronger and helps their child learn how to navigate their way in the world confidently and safely are far more important in my view.
Doing all of this requires a parent to be the parent. No small feat by any means however one that many parents achieve daily.

Attachment parenting will be a topic of conversation for some time to come  I think.