Embarrassing Parenting Moments	New Books Here!

Dear Friends, My goodness what a wild ride! 2006 marks Attachment's 10 year anniversary. It's amazing really, that we've stuck around so long. 2006 also marks another anniversary – 18 years of parenting, as my eldest child turns 18. Remember Michelle and Baby Phoebe - my little tot whom first appeared on the cover of The Natural Baby Catalog, nursing her baby doll? That tiny moment in time, the instant I pushed the shutter exposing bits of gelatin and silver on a strip of thin film would make an impact on my family's life forever; maybe on your family too. As Michelle nursed her baby doll with such love and intensity it reminded us as parents how much we wanted to pass on the spirit by which we mothered our children, that a little love and mother's milk can make a world of difference, and that following the lead of our tiny children can teach us what patience and unconditional love can bring forth. It was radical back then you know, the group of us, my friends and I. We believed so strongly in how we were parenting our children that we seldom stepped outside our inner circle, and when we did it was like a blast of cold air. A reminder that not everyone else parented like we did. We knew somehow that attachment parenting would make a difference, we knew it was the only way we felt comfortable raising our children. Well I'm here to tell you. It was good, it was perfect, it was wise. Best thing I ever did. Children who are raised firmly attached to their primary caregivers grow up to be awesome human beings – I see it again and again, and I live with the fruits of my labor every day. So much has changed in my family's life in the past ten years, so much I couldn't even begin to tell you here. Even though every day life is not about breastfeeding, family bedding and cloth diapering anymore, the idea of making a firm and lasting connection with my children carries on throughout out my life. I recently attended a two-day workshop on Neurobiology and Attachment Theory in Psychotherapy. I was completing a graduation requirement for grad school. What is quite amazing is that studies (hard science, not maternal gut feelings!) are showing that the bonding experiences between infant and mother are the glue that holds the emotional development of the human together. Infants who are not bonded with their primary caregiver have a lack of right brain development that has been found to cause mental health problems in adulthood. Cross culterally, a mother will tend to hold her infant primarily on her left side, gazing down from the right to the left side, fostering right brain development in the infant. Right brain development is crucial in the emotional development of humans. I sat in this workshop taking copious notes, I was nodding and smiling to myself feeling smug in my parenting choices, thinking that science had finally caught up with mother nature. I looked up to the speaker's power point as an audible gasp was heard in the room. The speaker had just flashed on the next slide, it was a magical, almost electrical image of a mother and child by the artist Alex Grey. It was a mother nursing a child. I looked around at all of the psychiatrists, therapists, nurses and social workers as they too were nodding along with me. They knew the secret, all of these highly educated and esteemed movers and shakers in the world of healing mental health afflictions understood the power of the mother and child bond. It was a moment in my life's education I will never forget. We are right in following our gut; we are right in telling our children the truth and teaching them to love unconditionally. Over the years this catalog has changed and grown as my family has. You will find a slight shift away from babyhood in these catalog pages, even though the baby roots are still there. We all move on in life. I have moved on. I wish you blessings in your continued parenting journey. Use of photos and copyright information. © 1997-2007 Lori Thompson Photography Design by Beki Rosenthal. There have been visitors since October 10, 2001.		Advocacy Blessing Way Books for Kids Gift Books Midwifery Books Children's Slings Coming of Age Compleat Mother Subscriptions Doula Gifts New Baby Gifts Midwife Gifts Pregnancy Gifts Fabric Gift Bags Fertility Gift Certificates Home Birth Jewelry-Silver/Bronze Jewelry-Stoneware General Notecards Nursing Notes General Sculpture Breastfeeding Sculpture Sign up for the Attachments e-newsletter!