I'm incredibly frustrated with the fact that our 6 year old son is still co-sleeping with us. We have tried to help him transition to sleeping in his own bed, yet I feel that my wife invariably caves in at the first sign that he's distressed. Although he goes to bed willingly, he'll always wake up. We can be sitting in the living room, in plain sight of him through an open door, and he'll whine and cry, and sometimes angrily demands that we stop whatever it is we're doing (talking, watching a movie together, working on the computer), and either bring him into our bed or join him in his. It is clear, at least in these specific instances, that it's not a safety issue. The lights are on and we're within his line of sight. Verbal assurances that we're right there simply do nothing to help!

My wife insists that I should never have "signed up" for attachment parenting if I wasn't willing to stick it through. When is enough, enough, though?

My perception is that my son is developing a very unhealthy attachment, and that he is going to grow up feeling not simply that someone cares for him, but that he is somehow powerless to care for himself, and that he needs to manipulate and throw tantrums until someone agrees to do whatever is necessary to fulfill his demands.

Neither of us can remember the last night of uninterrupted sleep we had, unless it be nights that we don't even bother taking him into his own room in the first place. Our ability to simply spend some quite, quality time together is greatly handicapped, we continually argue about what the effect of each other's approach will be, and I'm concerned that the immense stress this situation has brought into our marriage may end up damaging his ability to form healthy relationships more than just letting him cry it out and get over it.

I'm so desperate for a resolution to this issue. Any thoughts?