What is attachment parenting?
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In my day it was called being an overprotective parent.
How do we get so clinical in so many things today? Once again, I am no expert on the field, but I would love to throw my two cents into this one because as a child, there was a time when my mother practiced "attachment parenting" a little too much. The terminology used when I was growing up was wimp, chicken or crybaby. Today you would be considered a wuss or nerd, possibly. Only when I started to learn to fend for myself did I start to actually develop into something resembling a grown up or worthwhile teenager.
Parents that decide that this form of parenting is a good idea are just letting Johnny "hide behind my mommy's skirt" and they will be bullied, teased and grow up to be insecure and probably end up being accountants. If you want to really get bored read the article in Wikipedia about attachment parenting. I use Wikipedia as a starting point to research just about any topic and especially ones that I am unsure of the context. Keep in mind that the posts are all done by individuals and there can be questions regarding the validity of the information. In this case, the person, or people, who wrote this is/are likely in the psychologoy or sociology field somewhere. It is much too dry for my taste.
The picture of the lion cub and mother is from a website called IncredibleTravelPhotos. Now there is something worth the time of investigation. The mother is not practicing attachment parenting here. It just looks like good old-fashioned love. The cub will have to learn to fend for itself to survive. And so should everyone's children. It isn't cruel. It is what is necessary to survive in any world.
You won't love your children any less if you don't overprotect them. You will be preparing them for their journey through life, just like the mother lion. Dad's probably off fighting with the other dads over some territorial thing, so some things in nature are the same as they are in society. He is probably getting some food that he will consider sharing with the rest of the family. It is in his best interest. He likes to get close to mom every once in awhile.
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Sometimes Wikepedia isn't accurate
IMHO, I have to disagree with you, attachment parenting came out of the work pf people such as Harry Harlow, John Bowlby and Margaret Ainsworth and is primarily research based. There is significant scientific evidence that the experience of attachment is the base for children learning skills like self regulation, empathy and ability to interact well with others.
Some of the most severely disturbed children are those with Reactive Attachment Disorder, which results from neglectful and abusive parenting. It may sound a little woo woo, but this is one of the most scientifically studied and tested approaches we have.
Thanks Bozoplay for taking the time to answer my question - I should have thought to take a look at Wikipedia myself - I thought it was probably some new fangled parenting methodology rather than a parent over-protection process on how to raise your own nerd! - what makes me wonder though is that when the parent follows this path who exactly are they doing it for? their perceived safety/security of their child or to keep said child closer to home for longer? food for thought anyway. cheers and thanks for taking the time.
Bozoplay Hub Author 3 years ago
Wikipedia should seldom be considered a primary source for information since it appears that no one is actually checking it for credibility. I find it is a great starting point for researching almost anything and leads to other sites that can be considered more reliable and perhaps closer to the truth. The lesson is that just because it appears on the Internet, it doesn't mean that it is true. The reader needs to decided whether or not the information can be trusted.