Attachment Parenting

Thank you for this wonderful site. My wife and I raised our twins (girl and boy) according to these principles. They are now in their mid-twenties, she a veterinary technician in a busy practice, he finishing up law school. Because of my wife’s work schedule I was “Mr. Mom” until they were three. She still gave them “chi-chi” (like the lady on the psychotically controversial Time magazine cover) until they were about six. We all slept together until they were almost seven when they decided independently that each would like his/her own space. As infants neither was ever left to “just cry it out;” to us that was child abuse. Because my wife and I were finding our own way with our children in the late 80s we referred to ourselves as “bonded” parents. The best part is that over two decades later we are still a bonded family. Even during adolescence we never failed to get along and always genuinely enjoyed each other’s company (and still do as my daughter now prepares for her own wedding). In retrospect, I found that I could sum up all of the needs of every child in the world in one simple word: trust. That along with what I call the “Five Magic Phrases:” I love you, please, thank you, I’m sorry, I forgive you; are the formula for a great and happy human life. (Now if there were only some way to get that poor miserable John Rosemond to stop saying those awful things; his guiding principle seems to be total breach of the child’s trust beginning in infancy! But I digress…) Thanks again. –Mac (¤_¤)

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