Thursday, March 26, 2009

Attachemet Parenting

So locally I don't really know any moms that practice attachment parenting and gentle discipline. Well, thats not entirely true, I do know a few that do things very similar but I guess we have never really "talked" about it. Very hard to explain I guess :)

Anyway, I was looking for somewhere online to get advice from other moms in a forum like situation where I could post a question (or they could post a question) and get advice from other gentle discipline/ AP moms, knowing that pooling of knowledge can be very helpful when trying to deal with a 2.5 year old without tearing ones hair out.

Now, I know my 2.5 year old isn't the *only* 2.5 year old that acts like he does but somedays I just don't know what to do or where to turn for advice. I ask my family and I would be told just to spank or do time out. Spanking I am for sure not okay with and time outs, while not horrible, aren't always what I feel like the best choice is. I just feel like there must be a "better way" to deal with some of the stuff he does.

Example? Ivy was 3 or 4 weeks old and in her infant carseat. I had the brilliant thought "Oh its just milk, no biggie" and took both kids in the store with no cart figuring Aaron would follow just fine. He made it as far as the milk aisle before sitting in the middle of it and refusing to move and blocking the lane for several other people. Of course with the infant carrier + infant in one hand and milk in the other I was out of arms and hands to get him up. Every fiber of my being wanted to toss the milk back on the shelf and drag him out of there by his ear.

I stopped, thought a moment about what I could do, and it hit me. "Aaron, can you help Mama get the milk to the register so we can pay for it? It is very heavy and I need your help carrying it." He thought for a second, got up, and grabbed the handle of the milk "helping" me get it to the register.

It was really a rather proud moment for me. We figured out a way to work through that situation without either of us losing our heads. It was a matter of reprogramming my thinking.

Anyway, I have gone off on a tangent here, as I often do. A few of my online friends had been talking about starting a yahoo group for other moms that wanted an attachment parenting friendly place to get advice, so, this morning, I worked out all the back end stuff and set it up!

It has been up for about 12 hours now and so far we are already at almost 50 messages. I am rather impressed and happy at how quickly the new members have jumped in and hope to keep getting new applicants and new members.

If anyone is interested http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lovinglittleones/

2 comments:

Jenny said...

Very cool! I'm going to have to sign up :)

Julie said...

That story about the milk got me a little choked up. I wish I could handle things so well. At the beginning of this post I was thinking you were thinking of coming back to NB :). I think I'll go check out your group :).