I asked Kristy to share a few things about her parenting style with a Q and A style blog post. Kristy has been a big support and a reminder of why our family chose to parent the way we are, gentle parenting, vaccines, breastfeeding and babywearing are all topics I have gone to Kristy for her point of view. Our families are entirely different– a big difference is I am a mother of 1 and Kristy is a mother of 9 and a grandmother to 1. Even though I have not met Kristy in person I feel blessed to have her in my life, she is constantly reinforcing my decisions with evidence based information and a caring heart. check out her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LittleGreenEarthlings
attachment parenting: noun
Would you consider yourself an attachment parent?
-Yes—— While I do consider myself an attached parent, I am also human. I am not a robot and therefore I also have emotions. I can lose my temper. I yell. I always tell my children that I am in a bad mood for whatever reason and if I am snarky with them I apologize for my behavior. We need to be good examples to our children. If we treat them how we would like to be treated, everything will be ok. Love, compassion, patience, empathy, understanding and fun make a good recipe for raising wonderful humans
What does attachment parenting mean to you?
– I am very emotionally and physically attached to my kids. I have evolved SOOOOO much as a parent over the (almost) 23 years that I have been a mother. It’s amazing the amount I have had to UN-learn! When my oldest daughter was a baby, she was born in the hospital and taken to the nursery during the night. I was told to only feed every 4 hours and supplement with formula so she would get everything she needed. As she got a bit older, in order to train her to sleep through the night I was advised to let her cry. ……. Alone…….. In her room
Sadly I did what our doctor and parents recommended and I STILL feel the guilt. It is so disturbing that we are still taught by some old school thinkers out there NOT to trust our natural animal instincts!
When I had my second child I knew that I did NOT want to do that to her. She slept in my arms from day 1. She didn’t touch a bottle in the hospital. I listened to her and responded to what she needed. She was happy and content.
Babies have feelings that matter JUST AS MUCH as adults. Children have feelings that matter JUST AS MUCH as adults. I truly believe that their feelings need to be put first and we need to respect the feelings they have whether it makes sense to us or not. If a child is frightened about something that makes no sense to us, we need to comfort that child rather than brush it off and dismiss them.
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