Time Magazine Cover

I feel like I need to blog about this.  My husband sent me a link to it, jokingly asking if I was jealous.  Of course I am.  Who doesn't want to look THAT good in skinny jeans?!?!  Then I realized he was probably talking about the kid on her boob.  I was really excited to read the article and see what Time had to say about nursing past a year.  I was surprised to find that it's not really about nursing, it's more about Dr. Bill Sears.  If you're not familiar with Dr. Sears (all 4 of them!) you can check out his/their website.  The link between the three year old on the cover (is there any way this pic is NOT going to make his wedding slide show?!?) and Dr. Sears is a philosophy of parenting called Attachment Parenting.  It's not a philosophy that Dr. Sears "invented" (baby brain is making it hard to come up with appropriate terms these days) but it's a philosophy that he embraces.  The misleading cover actually has nothing to do with the article, which is more an interview with the Dr. Bill Sears and his wife, Martha.  It talks a little about his pediatric practice, his books (The Baby Book, specifically) and how he subscribes to attachment parenting.  It's a really good article, if you're interested in the Sears', which I am.  I LOVE Dr. Sears' books, all 5 that I've read.  I love that they're written in such a way that you don't feel like he believes his way is the best and all others be damned, like I felt Gary Ezzo's book, BabyWise did.  I nursed all 3 of my kids until they were ready to stop (the last one was a little longer than I was planning to nurse, but I'm ok with that) I enjoy babywearing and I feel like it's the easiest option for my and my kids, not that I'm doing harm when I'm NOT wearing my baby.  The article talked a lot about the "cry it out" method and how that compares to AP's philosophy that you should never let your baby cry.  I think there's a balance that the article neglected to mention on both ends.  I personally think it's OK to let kids cry a little, having 3 it's hard NOT to have one crying while another one needs attention for a minute, but I also think that Dr Sears has a point that letting a kid cry for hours can be damaging.  Those were the big 3 that Time article addressed.
I don't follow attachment parenting strictly, I don't believe that any one parenting model works for all parents and all kids, but I do pull the parts of it what work for me and my family.  I thought the cover of Time was a great attention-grabber, and I hope it made more parents read the article, just to learn about different parenting styles.  My first year teaching first grade the teacher down the hall used to talk about a teacher's "bag of tricks".  In this imaginary bag were all the classroom management skills that teacher's use.  When one's not working, try another, then another.  The more "tricks" in the bag, the better able to deal with more situations a teacher will be.  I feel this is the same for parenting.  If all you know is one method, and it's not working for you or your child, then your stuck.  But if you know a bunch of different methods and one's not working for your child or your family, then you have a lot of resources to pull from.  Hopefully, the cover caused some parents to read the article and maybe they learned a thing or two to add to their "bag".  I could have done without the mom looking so great in those skinny jeans though.