Attachment Parenting

Last night, I finished reading Attachment Parenting (by Katie Allison Granju). It is part of our LLL Group library. None of the content was new to me, but I still enjoyed the book for the most part--made me feel like I'm doing pretty good as a mother :) I think it would be a good book for more people to read *before* they have children, though, sadly, I think few people actually would read it before having children--there is a certain "preaching to the choir" element of the book that makes me feel like the only people who would pick it up would be AP inclined anyway. My specific critiques of the book are that it focuses very heavily on breastfeeding (did you ever think you'd see the day that I'd critique something for focusing heavily on breastfeeding?! LOL!)--I feel like there are plenty of excellent breastfeeding books out there and so a several chapter rehash in this book, though good information, wasn't that necessary. There wasn't enough information to make buying an additional breastfeeding book unnecessary and yet there was so much as to leave little room in the book for other attachment parenting information. My second critique is that the book ends very abruptly and also has no index. You get to the last chapter (Breastfeeding Past the First Year), read along, get to the last paragraph of that chapter and BOOM the book is over.

A quote that I liked from the book (in which the author is quoting an AP family):

"My partner & I are working hard to create a family based way of life. We want home, parenting, work & our relationship to all be part of a seamless web, not separate & compartmentalized boxes. It's exciting!"

I share this sentiment--we are striving for an integrated life together instead of divided up little realms.

Speaking of attachment parenting, I got a really cute magnet in the mail a couple of days ago from Attachment Parenting International (I'm an unchaptered member). I love their colorful people-all-in-a-row logo which is on the magnet (I'm not sure if it is really their logo or not, because they have a very different one on their newsletter and other materials, but this people logo is on a lot of their CafePress stuff and I just really like it.)