Lying Down With Kids Is Good For Them, Scientists Say

Attachment parenting, like lying down with your children, proved to be beneficial and good for them. 

The May 2012 issue of Time Magazine with the controversial cover picture of Jamie Lynne Grummet attending to her 3-year-old son, with the title "Are You Mom Enough?", resulted in attachment parenting to take on the spotlight. The implication was that there is something wrong with parents - mothers, especially - who become too involved in their children's upbringing. The fact that the story is directed to moms and not dads also caused criticism. 

The Attachment Theory

Attachment parenting has a solid theoretical basis which is the Attachment Theory of Mary Salter Ainsworth and her colleagues. The theory emphasizes the nature of the relationship between the children and their caregivers, which is usually the parents.

The "Strange Situation"

Ainsworth paved the way to present the said theory with her innovative experimental method, "Strange Situation". She made the mothers play with their children in a lab playroom, leave the room, and then come back a few minutes later. The results led them to propose different attachment styles, categorizing the infants into groups of securely and insecurely attached. The securely attached children considered their mothers as a haven. They were not overly upset when the mother left the room, and they greeted her happily when she returned. On the other hand, the insecurely attached children either ignored the returning mother, cried the whole time she was gone, or showed some combination of these patterns of behavior. As Ainsworth was researching attachment, Diana Baumrind, Berkeley psychologist, identified variations in parenting styles that contributed to child mental health outcomes. The styles differ in the level of administration and demandingness, on one dimension, and assistance and responsiveness on the other. And the most positive result with regards to the children's behavior occurs when parents are being authoritative. 

Meaning, the parents show their children that they care about them, but they are also expecting them to follow their advice and guidance, for the reason that they just want to keep them safe. The attachment and parenting style theories provided the foundation for attachment parenting as how it is practiced at present. 

What are the effects of attachment parenting, then?

What both theories propose is that parents attend to their children with a firm purpose of supporting, and adjusting their expectations, and focus on their child's developmental level needs. The most important is not the specific behavior or way of parenting, but the fact that whether or not it is responsive to the needs of the child.

Parenthood is not at all easy. Attachment parenting may hold some advantages to help alleviate the stress felt by parents. As time passes by, and once the parents got out of the first six weeks or so, their kids will not cry as often. They will also throw fewer tantrums and therefore will be easier to adjust to babysitters or daycare. And although one may not be perfect in attachment parenting, the more one can incorporate some of its principles into the relationships that they have with their children, the more likely the will experience its benefits.