Attachment Parenting

A local baby shop hosted some free classes last weekend that Lucas and I attended.  The first was on cloth diapering.  Cloth diapering is not your mother's cloth diapering anymore!  There is a whole industry for this stuff.  I was overwhelmed keeping all the types of diapers straight.  I think Lucas and I finally decided on a good option for us and for people who may take care of our kid for a bit - all in one cloth diapers.

Basically they're just like disposables - there's no need to assemble them - but instead of throwing them away, you throw them in the laundry.

Babywearing was the topic of the second class.  It was especially fun because there were lots of little babies to make eyes at.  People brought in their babies and their carrying equipment to work out any problems they were having with wearing their baby or to learn new carries for their baby - like back carries:

I determined after that class that I was going to be an expert in baby carrying - including back carries.  Back carries are more challenging because it's a little difficult and unwieldy to move a baby onto your back and confidently ensure that baby is snug enough not to fall out.  I was inspired by the women at this class.

A lot of this stuff (breastfeeding, cloth diapering, babywearing, cosleeping, one parent staying home) is all a part of what I think of as attachment parenting.  I'm not all the way clear on the specifics of attachment parenting but the general gist of it is that as a parent you are intimately in tune with your child's needs and responsive to them in as nurturing a way as possible.  What's especially interesting to me about attachment parenting is that I was gravitating toward these things anyway when I discovered they were all components of this attachment parenting theory.  Dr. Sears has a little piece on attachment parenting here: http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/attachment-parenting/what-ap-7-baby-bs.

There are plenty of critics of attachment parenting and a cursory review of the almighty google search for "criticism of attachment parenting" shows that the main concerns are for homeschooling, delayed or no vaccinations, and extending attachment parenting beyond infancy - in essence, creating needy and insecure children.  Lucas and I are all for organized schooling, vaccinations and a separation from our kids once they've made it out of the needy first stage of life.  I don't know exactly when that time will be, however, as I've never been a parent before.  I imagine it will extend at least until the first year, but hopefully not beyond the second.  

I have given a decent amount of thought to having a kid, much beyond wanting to create a life just because or to have another person to love (or to love me).  I've thought about the world and whether it's selfish to bring a child into this one, with the ever impending threats of global warming and overpopulation and depletion of resources.  I've thought about whether I would make a good parent, with my short temper and lack of patience.   I've thought about whether I would even like being a mother, if it will be okay to give up a life I'm used to, one filled with ease and frivolity and excess.  And in the end, the answer is yes.  I do want a child, I want to raise a productive member of society, someone who is interested, who contributes.  I want the best for this kid, as I'm sure most people who choose to have a child do.  There's a part of me that is concerned about how the choices I make now will affect this kid in the future.  I'm sure every parent has fears of making "incorrect" decisions and ending up with a messed up kid.  But the fact that every parent has those fears doesn't necessarily allay mine.