What Is Attachment Parenting?

For the answer to this question, I looked to Attachment Parenting International. According to API, the goal is “to raise children who will become adults with a highly developed capacity for empathy and connection.” This method uses no violence in order to prevent violence.

The foundation of attachment parenting is about forming and nurturing strong connections between parents and their children. Proponents of this method, like Jamie Lynne Grumet—the mother who is shown nursing her 3-year-old boy on the May 21, 2012 cover of TIME—claim that it is a return to instinctual behaviors. These behaviors have been the subject of study for many years and research seems to support them as key to optimal development of children.

These behaviors are summarized in the API’s 8 Principles of Parenting:

•Prepare for Pregnancy, Birth, and Parenting

•Feed with Love and Respect

•Respond with Sensitivity

•Use Nurturing Touch

•Ensure Safe Sleep, Physically and Emotionally

•Provide Consistent and Loving Care

•Practice Positive Discipline

•Strive for Balance in Your Personal and Family Life

API calls these “attachment-promoting” behaviors and suggests starting them during pregnancy and continuing them until the child is 7 or 8 years of age. Descriptions of each principle are available through the API website.

API acknowledges that attachment parenting is not a one-size-fits-all recipe for raising children and recommends that parents use their own judgment and intuition to create a parenting style that fosters attachment and works for their family.