Radical Parenting Part 2

Attachment Parenting: This family had 3-4 children, youngest being 18 months. I related to this family the most. The family, as typical with attachment parenting style, continued to breastfeed. One of the children was breastfed till age 4. They also continued babywearing for the 18 month old. They practice elimination communication, which is going with no diaper most of the time for them. The mom also hosts EC meetings in their home, showing other families some EC tips. Co-sleeping is a normal part of the family life, with the youngest two children in the bed. The youngest was very often seen in a baby carrier on the mom or dad's back. They practice babywearing most of the time through age 2-3. So the child is most often on the parent, not on the floor.

Ok, I personally related to this family a lot. I think they are doing a great job raising these kids. I really can't argue with anything that they do. I still breastfeed and think that it's great. EC is a great idea, but I'm too lazy to try and take my baby to the potty all day. We do cloth diaper, which is slightly off the mainstream parenting track. Babywearing is a great idea, but dang! It hurt my back a lot to wear my heavy baby around. I did it some, but not a lot. Those people are seriously strong. We co-sleep also. It's just what works for us. So we had a lot in common here.

What we can learn: This mom mentioned that when she was open and honest about her extended breastfeeding, that a lot of other moms "came out of the closet" with it. So maybe I'm not as alone as I believe in nursing past one year. We can all research babywearing and EC and consider if it's right for us.

A teaser for tomorrow... Radical Parenting Part 3 Gender Neutral Parenting (not as crazy as it sounds, but very interesting!)