jmofarrill
09-16-2003, 01:00 PM
The following message was posted to an AP board I used to read, and I thought it was a wonderful description of how I work to meet dd's needs. The lady who posted the message was trying to control a flood of threads in which mothers were afraid that since they could not put a check in every box that describes APing, their children would not "attach" to them. Same for any parent using other methods, I'm guessing. It's basically a reiteration of what's going on in other threads here right now: use what meets your baby's needs, leave what doesn't work for your child, and if your little one is secure/happy/well-adjusted/'other-positive-word', then you are meeting his/her needs. FWIW, I don't really subscribe to any particular method of baby-care/child-rearing; I'm just Anwyn's Mom.
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You don't have to breastfeed,
You don't have to cosleep,
You don't have to wear your baby in a sling,
You don't have to use cloth diapers,
And you don't have to stay at home
to be an "attachment parent."
You can feed your baby formula in a bottle if you wish,
Your baby can sleep in a crib,
Feel free to push your baby in a stroller,
Use disposable diapers,
And have a job if you want to,
but value the ATTACHMENT to your child.
Following your instincts
Rather than the opinion of a doctor or book or mother-in-law (LOL).
There are plenty of AP moms out there
Who own exersaucers,
Don't have a sling,
Pop Elmo videos into the VCR so they can get dinner cooked,
Hire the occassional babysitter so mom and dad can go out to dinner,
Who have babies that actually love their playpen,
And who even have let an older baby "cry-it-out."
But the main thing with AP is
We respond to our chilren,
We do our best not to let them cry alone,
We give our love knowing that we are helping to create
A loving compassionate human being in return.
We are putting our big feet into size 1 shoes
So we can treat our little ones as we would want to be treated in their position.
We are parenting by what feels right in our hearts
Regardless of what opposite recomendation some so-called expert might say
We trust our human animal instincts in our decisions of how to care for our children
We don't need directions or instructions, and our children didn't come with any
We simply know we are doing the right thing in our hearts.
So you see, there is quite a lot of variety in attachment parenting
That's all, off my soapbox now
Jeannette
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You don't have to breastfeed,
You don't have to cosleep,
You don't have to wear your baby in a sling,
You don't have to use cloth diapers,
And you don't have to stay at home
to be an "attachment parent."
You can feed your baby formula in a bottle if you wish,
Your baby can sleep in a crib,
Feel free to push your baby in a stroller,
Use disposable diapers,
And have a job if you want to,
but value the ATTACHMENT to your child.
Following your instincts
Rather than the opinion of a doctor or book or mother-in-law (LOL).
There are plenty of AP moms out there
Who own exersaucers,
Don't have a sling,
Pop Elmo videos into the VCR so they can get dinner cooked,
Hire the occassional babysitter so mom and dad can go out to dinner,
Who have babies that actually love their playpen,
And who even have let an older baby "cry-it-out."
But the main thing with AP is
We respond to our chilren,
We do our best not to let them cry alone,
We give our love knowing that we are helping to create
A loving compassionate human being in return.
We are putting our big feet into size 1 shoes
So we can treat our little ones as we would want to be treated in their position.
We are parenting by what feels right in our hearts
Regardless of what opposite recomendation some so-called expert might say
We trust our human animal instincts in our decisions of how to care for our children
We don't need directions or instructions, and our children didn't come with any
We simply know we are doing the right thing in our hearts.
So you see, there is quite a lot of variety in attachment parenting
That's all, off my soapbox now
Jeannette
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