Parent Support Support

Thank you Card
flickr/Jon Ashcroft

API, along with its partners, Ask Dr. SearsAttachment Parenting CanadaLamaze InternationalPathways ConnectInfant Massage USAHolistic Moms NetworkMothering MagazineFamilies for Conscious Living, and Family and Home Network, is pleased to bring the theme of “Relax, Relate, Rejuvenate: Renewed with Parenting Support” to AP Month 2012 and we hope you have been enjoying the blog posts, daily calendar tips, research on the topic of support, local events, social media posts, and increased attention on the importance of parenting support..

We celebrate the depth and value of parenting support, urging parents to find or create and appreciate their parenting support system. We particularly show our gratitude to those who make the support happen: volunteer leaders, group volunteers, and the staff teams, advocates, and donors who support them. In 18 years of offering support, API regularly hears firsthand the impact that support has on parents and their children–and it keeps API and our partners going, doing the good work.

What else keeps us going is knowing that, as parenting support organizations, we do not need to provide all the support ourselves. We turn to each other for support and collaboration, such as with this year’s theme. We enjoy a network of approaches that all contribute so much to parenting and provide parents with options that best meet their needs. We can combine our voices and raise awareness and pinpoint focus on an important topic, far exceeding what one organization could do alone. We can share developments, lessons learned, and research and all to better support parents. We think it is good for us to build each other up, to work together, all for the purpose of doing our best for families. The feedback is that you find our collaboration supportive too.

There are a lot of people to thank, including each of the AP Month 2012 partners. We welcome new ones–Pathways Connect, Holistic Moms Network, Family and Home Network, and Families for Conscious Living–for sharing the message, donating to the auction, contributing to the blog, and most of all supporting families. We also thank our long-time partners, now celebrating our 5th AP Month–Ask Dr. Sears, Mothering Magazine, Infant Massage USA, Lamaze International, and AP Canada–for promoting the theme in their communities The theme and logo this year recognize the cycle of support and how it really is a valuable renewable resource we cannot underestimate. We thank Art Yuen, AP Month Coordinator, for our theme and position statement, and bringing together the entire event with support from Kelly Johnson. Thank you to Dawn Washelesky, logo designer, for conceptualizing this year’s theme. Thank you to Angela Adams and Ashlee Gray for their work on the API auction, and to all the donors for their contributions. Thank you to Courtney Sperlazza for organizing the AP Month blog event, and Kelly Bartlett for organizing our social media activities. Thank you to Rita Brhel and her publications team, for our upcoming Attached Family issue of articles on the theme of parent support. Thank you to our featured AP Month support groups and sharing your stories. Thank you to the local API support groups for organizing events and fundraisers in support of their groups and API.

Thank you to Barbara Nicholson and Wendy Goldstein, for bringing us our Papas and Mamas Sing for Healthy Birth 2012 benefit concert. Thank you to all our many volunteers for the silent auction and ticket sales, and to Lamaze International for partnering in this effort. Thank you to our concert sponsors TriStar Health, 12South Yoga, Village Real Estate Services, Delbert McClinton and Wendy Goldstein, Trey and Lisa Calfee, and Phil and Reedy Hickey. For a one-of-a-kind night, thank you to Delbert McClinton and Band, Beth Chapman, Jonnell Mosser, Siobhan Kennedy, and Carmella Ramsey, Kevin and Yates McKendree, The McCrary Sisters, Gary Nicholson, and Doyle and Debbie. Thank you to Third and Lindsley Bar and Grill for hosting the event. Thank you to Dr. William and Martha Sears for presenting the API “Attached at the Heart” 2012 Contributions in Parenting Award to Ina May Gaskin, and recognizing our honorees Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein for their work on the Business of Being Born.

Let’s cap off this year’s celebration by making sure this good work can continue with some support of the AP Month Auction! Make your bids and show your appreciation to our donors and the work of all our volunteers.

Parent support support is a role that all of us can play, helping organizations who are dedicated to equipping and empowering parents through the most important role there is–nurturing our children for healthy lives.

Author: API Blog

APtly Said, Formerly API Speaks launched in April of 2008 as part of Attachment Parenting International's larger effort to offer interactive content through their newly-redesigned web site: http://www.attachmentparenting.org. All contributors to APtly Said, as with so many of API's staff, are volunteers who donate their time and energy to promote Attachment Parenting world wide.

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