Attachment Parenting
Last April, a giant news story was on every news channel and was on the covers of many newspapers and magazines for weeks. This nightmare of the Columbine massacre impacted citizens across the nation. What compelled Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, two young teenage boys, to open fire on an innocent high school, killing thirteen people and then, killing themselves? What were they thinking? Who is to blame? Do we blame the music they listened to, the video games they played, the high school cliques they were not a part of? No one may ever know who or what is to blame, but one group of parents interviewed by 20/20 claim to have an explanation for these seemingly unexplainable phenomena. They say the answer lies with the parents and their method of parenting. This group of guardians suggest a type of child rearing called attachment parenting. "They believe the style of parenting they practice will inoculate their children against ever becoming troubled" (1). Attachment parenting is a style of parenting in which the mother and father spend as much as time as possible with the baby, "physically connected'' to the child. "While other parents use the help of walkers, playpens,
"The Bedrakas," interviewed by 20/20, "says it has done wonders for their daughter, Veronica," who will be five years old next month and is still continuing to breast-feed (4). Equally concerned with the well being of children, the government issued a warning against co-sleeping, a fundamental component of attachment parenting. ' (28) For Eric Harris and Dylan Kleblod, how their parents raised them did not solely cause them to act out in such a violent manner. `Children are profoundly affected by an array of people who interact with them,' Eyer writes, `by the foods they eat, by the music they hear, by the television they watch, by the hope they see in the adult world and by the institutions- especially schools- they attend. While there might be jobs that allow mothers to have their children with them, the work place is not an ideal environment for children. In a world with billions of people, everyone gets overlooked. Placing too much emphasis on the early relationship between mother and child, she argues, allows society to abdicate responsibility for its role in shaping children. William Sears, a supporter of attachment parenting, told Dr. According to the advocates of attachment parenting, "it's what parents would naturally do in the absence of baby books and doctors telling them what to do" (2). In addition to the parents being physically bonded to their children and the family sleeping together, these mothers breast feed their children for as long as possible or at least until the minimum of two years of age. Shaping these minds to face a ruthless world is a scary thought. Another study, conducted in 1970 by Dr. Just as a child can suffer from lack of nurturing, so can the union between a husband and a wife.
Common topics in this essay:
North Carolina,
Maddox McQuay,
Dylan Klebold,
Scientific Fiction,
Snyderman Lots,
Examiners Office,
Dylan Kleblod,
Jones English,
Medical School,
Shirley Radl,
attachment parenting,
baby books doctors,
child rearing,
baby books,
day cares,
eric harris,
harris dylan,
attachment parents,
interviewed 20/20,
eric harris dylan,
preschools day cares,
books doctors,
numerous studies,
|
Acceptance Essays
