Attachment Parenting Book Review, Essay Example for Students

Attachment parenting is a way of parenting that instigates for a strong attachment of toddlers in the early stages of life as well as encouraging parents to react to babies at any time. In this amazing book, Parker and Nicholson take you through eight principles that have been proven empirically in enhancing the general attachment to your child, and in the long run, plays an important role in enhancing the way one can raise and even discipline your child. The author has done a great work by not only dispelling myths, but rather delving deep into the attachment theory literature ,bringing into light issues like empathetic parenting, practicing positive discipline and ensuring safe sleeping practices. Generally, the material is geared towards parenting children who are between birth and three years of age. However all parents have the chance of providing insight and coming up with various techniques by making use of some of the principles that have been mentioned in the book.

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The Attachment Parenting Book is a book that is written by Dr. Bill and Martha Sears and was published in 2001. The book focuses on the eight features of parenting that boosts parenting and in the long run contributing to the full independence of children in the development process (Sears & Sears, 2001). The eight attributes include breastfeeding, bonding, babywearing, belief in baby's cry language and bedding close to the baby, balance and beware of trainers. Therefore, the essay focuses on reviewing the book, critiquing its efficiency and recommending some other additional readings when it comes to parenting.

Issues Addressed in The Attachment Parenting Book

The book addresses several issues concerning parenting. The three major issues include the duration of breastfeeding, how early attachment enhances independence and the role of a father in nurturing newborns. The authors believe that breastfeeding benefits both children and parents and for the first six months breastfeeding should be exclusively practiced. They suggest breastfeeding to be done from 1-4 years in children "While breastfeeding for only a few months is the cultural norm for Western Society, what we know about breastfeeding in primitive cultures and weaning times for other mammals that human infants were designed to breastfeed for several years" (Sears & Sears, 2001). Independence is enhanced by early attachment in that it helps children to overcome fearful tendencies and believe in themselves. Dr. Bill and Martha Sears believe that newborns can be nurtured by fathers by ensuring they divide rolls with the mother. Also, they can get involved in understanding baby language and emotions when they are stressed as well as co-sleeping and administering skin-to-skin touch in absence of the mother.

A Synopsis of Solutions

Dr. Bill and Martha Sears present a various solution to parenting. First of all, parents should practice constant holding and carry of newborns and administer breastfeeding until the baby is old enough. Also, parents should avoid feeding schedules that are strictly-timed and nurturing touches like skin-to-skin commonly referred to as Kangaroo (Goldberg, 2014). In addition, the parents should share beds with infants as well as practice responding to babies cries and emotions to help them deal with fears. However, Dr. Bill and Martha Sears affirm that there is no specific practice that should be followed by parents to help them meet their needs in an affectionate way.

Summary of Important Information Presented

The essence of attachment parenting is responding relatively to your baby's cry and taking time to listen to your baby. Generally, creating a secure relationship with your baby is important to the long-term ability to have trusting and loving relationships as an adult. A baby clear communicates their needs through emotions such as cooing, crying and smiling. It is important for a parent to regulate their baby's emotions by making sure that their needs are met. This is by feeding, holding and rocking their baby and this, in the long run, create a loving, trusting relationship that is identified as a secure attachment. As the child is growing to attain the maturity level, he develops the capacity of regulating his own emotions, but if the child is ignored, treated harshly or even neglected, he will experience difficulty in handling and dealing with his strong emotions. This will result in difficulty with trust in adult relationships or lack of empathy for others.one of dangerous example are those adults who experience serious behavior challenges, for example, the violent criminals.

Essential Developmental Information

Development is very important in children. The book presents important information during development stages for parents practicing and those anticipating to exercise the AP style. First of all, secure attachments and responsive parenting advocates for independence within infants as they tend to resist fearful behaviors. Secondly, emotionally supportive parenting enhances positive moods and socio-emotional development in infants (Sears & Sears, 2001). Also, toxic stress in children and parents can be addressed by proper habits of attachment parenting. Due to the strenuous activities in the AP approach, Sears recommends that there should be prioritization and delegation of responsibilities to both parents(Gonzalez-Mena, & Eyer,2012). Finally, Attachment parenting is associated with good behavior, higher IG, and good academic performance.

Technically, one of the major draws in the book is the parenting as a relationship theme that is dominant as one go through the eight principles. The fact is that parenting skills program is all about coming up with a strong bond and relationship with your child and allowing the relationship to provide a clear information on how one can rear their child. convincingly, the author plays a significant role in making sure that the research to support their principles is clearly delivered and the author is eager for the parents to gain the understanding that attachment parenting is not an overnight sensation but one major field of study that can study that can be supported by empirical data(Faircloth,2010).

General Critique

Dr. Sears affirms that it is essential to listen to your parenting instincts when it comes to holding, breastfeeding, sleeping with your baby as well as picking up the baby when they start crying. However, the book largely dwells on heteronormative families and does not take into account families without a father/mother nuclear family. Moreover, it overlooks single parents, transgender and queer parents. Furthermore, Dr. Sears advocates for parents to attend to each need of their children for proper development as they suggest it's scientifically proven "Science says: Good Science Backs AP" (Sears & Sears, 2001). Nonetheless, over parenting may distract parents from understanding and learning the needs and capabilities of their children in full extent and complexity. Also, the AP approach as described by the Sears advocates a community of full motherhood which may take women back into traditional patterns of gender roles.

The eight principles are too many so if one is refreshing on having a question on the reason as to why such particular principles have to be chosen, API has implemented the 7 Baby Bs, that was established by Martha Sears and Dr. Bill and came up with The Eight Principle of Parenting.

Notably, the book is written in a way that is so easy to understand and informative at the same. Therefore, I would recommend all those first-time parents, families in heteronormative alignment and any other parent who wishes to gain knowledge on parenting to read the book. Furthermore, parents should also read other books like Attachment Parenting by Katie Allison and Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff in order to find the styles that would both benefit them and their kids (McCarthy, 2017).

Recommendation

If in any case, a parent did not start off with attachment parenting, there is great chance that they can do so now and it has never been too late for a parent to come up with more responsive and loving relationship with your child. a parent should build compassion on themselves and understand that even the most educated parents still make mistakes and they are living with the will of doing things differently at one specific point. Everyone is the new opportunity of building a new relationship with your child, based on empathy, trust, and love.

The Attachment Parenting Book addresses easy parenting styles that can be adopted by families planning to have children. The Sears concentrates on six basic baby care attributes that promise to enhance independence, reduce stress and the general development of infants is properly implemented. However, for diversity, parents should read other books containing different parenting techniques and find the one that works for their family.

References

Faircloth, C. (2010). 'What science says is best': Parenting practices, scientific authority, and maternal identity. Sociological Research Online, 15(4), 1-14.

Goldberg, S. (2014). Attachment and development. Routledge.

Gonzalez-Mena, J., & Eyer, D. W. (2012). Infants, toddlers, and caregivers: A curriculum of respectful, responsive, relationship-based care and education. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

McCarthy, T. (2017). Attachment parenting and secure attachment: exploring the mother's experiences and relationship with the child (Doctoral dissertation, Dublin Business School).

Sears, W., & Sears, M. (2001). The attachment parenting book: A commonsense guide to understanding and nurturing your baby. Little, Brown.