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This is the current issue out now!
http://lightbox.time.com/2012/05/10/...-gal-viewagn#1
You can't read everything online without a subscription sadly (and expectedly). I'm hoping to find a copy once DS wakes up because I'm curious. I'm hoping it's not as extreme and sensational as I'm afraid it's going to be!
I'm annoyed that the full article isn't freely available online. All the press this cover is getting is highly critical. I'm not sure if this sort of press helps or hurts those of us who choose to BF beyond the one year mark. I feel like its great to get press but this is sensationalizing the topic and perhaps putting a spot light on it as just another "out there, wacko" movement.
I got the TIME issue on the iPad today. The article itself is 3/4ths about Dr. Sears and his life. Absolutely nothing shocking or controversial at all like the cover photo makes you believe. There's mention of the Continuum Concept being the roots of AP. It does mention briefly that some moms feel traumatized for not being able to do everything in the Sears' baby book about AP. Honestly I own the book and have read it and it doesn't come across to me as an all or nothing in the least bit. They did include in the article that Sears' basically states to do the best you can and stick with your instincts, not that you have to do everything or your child will be suffer. Kinda feel there was a bit of an 'all or nothing' stance about AP in the article, which in practice I'm sure we all know people who are AP who don't do everything perfectly in the AP manner.
And despite the photo there's just mention of how AP is about extended breastfeeding (and babywearing and cosleeping and no CIO).
I actually had NO clue how many people find attachment parenting 'weird' before this article was blowing up everywhere! Everyone I know among my friends and family who has nursed a baby went on for a couple of years or so until the baby stopped or they wanted to wean. I feel like the oddball who would like to apply more of Dr Sears' techniques in my daily life but do what I can -- breastfeeding twins is killing me off so I'll push through to 6 months and reassess, carrying them both is too much for my back so I use a stroller when I'm alone but we like slings. I wasn't able to read the article, but you're right, the book definitely isn't an all-or-nothing deal. I still fail to see how any of the points are weird!
I also don't have a subscription to time, but I read the interview with the lovely lady on the cover.
It all seems very reasonable, She was breastfed until 6 (!) and remembers it as a warm, pleasant experience. She wants her son to choose when he is done. She seems to be a stay-at-home Mama, so it isn't causing her distress. I'm in the same boat,though Laszlo started self-weaning a few months back (common for chronic low-supply mamas). Laszlo can choose when he wants to sleep alone, though he's already made a decision on the BFeeding front. Not so weird, IMHO.
I have to say, I'm also surprised by the amount of mother's I have heard say they find Dr. Sears and AP to be anti-woman, oppressive, etc... When I found The Baby Book it was like coming home! In it I found myself reading about all of these things that I already was, or planned on doing, and it all just made so much sense! And if there was stuff I didn't agree with, or knew I wouldn't be able to manage... I just moved past it! Honestly didn't give it a second thought.
I didn't read the article, but I saw a clip of the author of the piece talk about the piece, and one thing that I was annoyed with what that she was clearly saying that there are 3 tenets of AP- BFing, BWing and co-sleeping. That just isn't true- there are, is it 7 or 8? And I think the one that all critics of AP LOVE to ignore is the last one- Maintain balance in family life- which is ALL about maintaining balance between work/home, kids/spouse, etc... I hear so much ignorant ranting about how AP parents just live according to/dictated by their kids, etc, never putting anything else first... and it just gets so old. And the working mother thing... FFS, The Baby Book has a whole chapter devoted to working mothers and how you can be a great AP parent even if you choose to work....because although being home with your kids might make it easier to follow some of the AP guidelines, it is not a requirement for APing... for that matter, nothing is. Anyway...
I'm really sick of people bagging on AP, or on people who CAN identify as AP parents. Did I pick up a Dr. Sears book and say to myself, "I SHALL FOLLOW THIS TO THE LETTER OF THE LAW!"??? No... who does that?? I found myself being drawn to being close to my infant, to co-sleeping, loved the idea of baby-wearing and found strollers mostly annoying as heck (and in certain situations, useful)...and I always felt that my child deserved respect for being a person with real needs, even if she was only a few days old and only had one way to communicate them (crying). So AP fit ME, not the other way around.
What gets me about this article and this kind of press is that 1) it's totally sensational (who breastfeeds like that? No one!) and 2) it very carefully chooses which aspects of AP to focus on and which to completely ignore which gives a very false sense of the whole thing in the end.
Sorry... this topic has pissed me off in recent days, because there are a lot of people around, especially arrogant women on these boards, who just think they can talk down about anyone who can identify as being AP- or God-forbid, someone said identifying with ANY parenting label, clearly means you're insecure. Oh right, ok. I'm a little riled.
Thanks for proving my point by quoting me directly- but on another board. Cross posting - especially while calling names - is frowned upon. I'm sorry if you take my confidence to be arrogance, but if you'd like to directly quote me and call me names I'd encourage you to at least have the integrity to do it on the original board. Thanks. If little labels and boxes make you feel happy and secure bully for you, that's wonderful. I find it curious that my opinion on another board and not about you so riled you, makes me wonder why, if you are in fact so secure, you care in the least? I'm fine with you calling me whatever you like, I'd just encourage you to have the respect to quote and name call me directly to my face instead of slinking off to another board to do so in the future. Thank you!
Melissa, I've seen the way you argue, and I know I don't stand a chance against you (not because you're right, but because you are indeed very good at debating/argueing/twisting words), so I have no intention of getting into it with you.
I hope to raise kids confident enough to speak up when they are being called names. I guess that's that's the best I can expect from you in the form of an apology, so I accept it. It's a shame that a woman confident I n her own opinion is still threatening to strangers in 2012. I hope it's better for our daughters.
I'm not apologizing to you any more than you are apologizing to me for the demeaning things you said about AP parents/parents who can identify as AP parents. This is not the debate board, so let's not get into it here.