What is Attachment Parenting?
What is Attachment Parenting?
At the root of attachment parenting lies attachment theory. Attachment theory stems from psychologist John Bowlby's studies of maternal deprivation and animal behavior research in the early 1950s.
Attachment theory says an infant instinctively seeks closeness to a secure "attachment figure." This closeness is necessary for the infant to feel safe emotionally as well as for food and survival. Early animal studies found that baby primates preferred a warm, terry-cloth "mother" doll over a wire doll that dispensed food but lacked warmth.
Attachment parenting is based on the idea that babies learn to trust and thrive when their needs are consistently met by a caregiver early in life. Children who never experience this secure attachment early in life, according to proponents, don't learn to form healthy attachments later in life. They suffer from insecurity, lack of empathy, and, in extreme cases, anger and attachment disorders.
More recent attachment theory is based on research into different styles of attachment in both children and adult romantic relationships. This includes secure, avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized attachment.
Early attachment theory proposed a finite "critical period" from six months to two or three years. During this critical period, children need to form secure attachments with a parent or other consistent caregiver. Prior to six months, most infants respond equally happily to well-meaning strangers as to their parents. At six or seven months, babies begin showing signs of separation anxiety when parents leave them. The specific behaviors at being "abandoned" are thought to indicate the child's attachment style.
What Is Attachment Parenting?
In this article
- The Eight Principles of Attachment Parenting
- The Roots of Attachment Parenting
- An Updated Look at Attachment Parenting
- Criticisms of Attachment Parenting
The Roots of Attachment Parenting
At the root of attachment parenting lies attachment theory. Attachment theory stems from psychologist John Bowlby's studies of maternal deprivation and animal behavior research in the early 1950s.
Attachment theory says an infant instinctively seeks closeness to a secure "attachment figure." This closeness is necessary for the infant to feel safe emotionally as well as for food and survival. Early animal studies found that baby primates preferred a warm, terry-cloth "mother" doll over a wire doll that dispensed food but lacked warmth.
Attachment parenting is based on the idea that babies learn to trust and thrive when their needs are consistently met by a caregiver early in life. Children who never experience this secure attachment early in life, according to proponents, don't learn to form healthy attachments later in life. They suffer from insecurity, lack of empathy, and, in extreme cases, anger and attachment disorders.
More recent attachment theory is based on research into different styles of attachment in both children and adult romantic relationships. This includes secure, avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized attachment.
Early attachment theory proposed a finite "critical period" from six months to two or three years. During this critical period, children need to form secure attachments with a parent or other consistent caregiver. Prior to six months, most infants respond equally happily to well-meaning strangers as to their parents. At six or seven months, babies begin showing signs of separation anxiety when parents leave them. The specific behaviors at being "abandoned" are thought to indicate the child's attachment style.
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