Category: API News & Events

The Truth About Spanking with Nadine Block

Register now for this next API LIVE! Teleseminar scheduled for Monday, August 30, 9 pm ET/6 pm PT – The Truth About Spanking: What Parents Must Know About Physical Discipline with special guest Nadine Block.

Register for this call to hear hosts Lu Hanessian and API cofounder Barbara Nicholson talk with Nadine Block

  • the practice and effect of spanking on cognitive and physical well-being
  • the confusion surrounding spanking and good behavior
  • how our own childhood experience drives our decision to spank or not
  • what to do if your spouse and you disagree on spanking
  • and more.

REGISTER NOW

API Live – Attachment Parenting with Mayim Bialik

Register now for the next API Live teleseminar. Hear API LIve hosts Lu Hanessian and API cofounder Barbara Nicholson talk with attachment parenting mother of two and actress Mayim Bialik. Hear about Mayim’s personal AP parenting experiences. Find out about her new projects, including an AP book she’s writing on what babies need (and don’t need) and why she feels so compelled to spread the word.

You can support API’s mission and take advantage of the knowledge and experience API Live’s special guests by signing up today. Every dollar of your sign up fee goes toward education, support and outreach for parents in need.

After registration, you will get an email with the call-in information and then after the program you will receive the download details for this exciting MP3.

Register now for $19 ($9 for API members–so join today!). If you are not an API member, you will be able to join and purchase (for $44 total – a 25% savings!). API Leaders register for free.

DATE: Monday, August 16, 2010
TIME: 8:00 pm ET/5:00pm PT – Please note that this is one hour earlier than previous teleseminars.

REGISTER NOW!

Separation Anxiety – Your Child’s and Yours

Register now for API’s next live teleseminar: “Separation Anxiety – Your Child’s and Yours” with special guest Elizabeth Pantley. Register for this call to hear hosts Lu Hanessian and Lysa Parker talk with Elizabeth Pantley about:

  • If you work so hard at creating attachment, why encourage separation?
  • Do AP children have more separation anxiety than others?
  • If you have a baby who won’t let you out of her sight without crying, how do you handle that?
  • Should an AP parent ever leave their child with a babysitter?
  • What do you do if your child cries when you leave him with a sitter?
  • Is it normal for a parent to suffer separation anxiety?
  • What are your tips for parents who have a hard time separating from their children?

The human body contains a specialized system called the endocannabinoid system (ECS), which is involved in regulating a variety of functions including sleep, appetite, pain and immune system response, on Discover Magazine you can learn much more information.

Separation anxiety is a very serious issue that has to be dealt with appropriately. Even pets have it and owners are taking it seriously, providing anxiety medicine for dogs or cats.

Elizabeth Pantley is the author of the new book The No-Cry Separation Anxiety Solution: Gentle Ways to Make Good-Bye Easy from Six Months to Six Years.

DATE: Monday, July 26, 2010
TIME: 9pm ET / 6pm PT

REGISTER NOW!

If you missed our last API Live teleseminar, Settling the Cosleeping Controversy with Dr. James McKenna, the recording is available for download now.

Settling the Cosleeping Controversy with Dr. James McKenna

Register now for API’s next teleseminar – Settling the Cosleeping Controversy: Get the Facts About Cosleeping, SIDS, Bedsharing and Breastfeeding with special guest Dr. James McKenna.

Register for this call to hear hosts Lu Hanessian and Lysa Parker talk with Dr. McKenna about:

  • Why the cosleeping debate?
  • What if the baby won’t transition out of our bed?
  • Can we put the baby in the middle?
  • Can’t there be siblings near the baby?
  • Until what age are the guidelines relevant?
  • Can I nurse lying down? How?
  • And answer your questions–email them to APILive@AttachmentParenting.org

DATE: Monday, June 28, 2010
TIME: 9 pm ET/6 pm PT

REGISTER NOW

The Gift of Being a Flawed Parent – MP3 Now Available

The MP3 of the latest API Live Teleseminar is now available for download. On Monday, May 24, 2010, author Lu Hanessian joined API Co-Founders Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker to discuss The Gift of Being a Flawed Parent.

Are you enjoying the ride with your children…or feeling burdened by vicious circles, self-doubt and guilt?
Do you feel regretful of your reactions and exasperated by the dynamics with your child?
Do you wonder if you’re messing up with your kids?

On this call, API founders Lysa Parker and Barbara Nicholson talk with Lu about how:

  • our “flaws” are actually pathways to raising resilient, secure, connected kids
  • understanding the brain science of attachment can give us our roadmap for reconnection even if we came from a painful past with insecure attachments
  • we can create or “earn” a secure attachment so we can offer this to our kids

You can support API’s mission and take advantage of the knowledge and experience API Live’s special guests by signing up today. Every dollar of your sign up fee goes toward education, support and outreach for parents in need.

After purchase, you will get an email with the download details for this exciting MP3.

Purchase the MP3 now.

The Gift of Being a Flawed Parent

Did you know that API hosts live teleseminars on important parenting topics with some of today’s most noted experts? In the past, the API Live teleseminars have featured Dr. Kathleen Kendall-Tackett discussing parental depression, Dr. Bob Sears chatting about autism spectrum disorders, Mothering magazine editor Peggy O’Mara discussing how we can get real with ourselves and our children, Ina May Gaskin speaking on the topic of the gift of loving your best birth, and much more.

The next API Live teleseminar will be held on Monday, May 24th at 9pm ET where Lu Hanessian will be speaking about “The Gift of Being a Flawed Parent” – How to Use Our Mistakes, Conflicts and Fears to Raise Kids with Big Hearts, Emotional Security and Inner Resilience. Lu will be joined by API co-founders and authors of the book Attached at the Heart to discuss how:

  • our “flaws” are actually pathways to raising resilient, secure, connected kids
  • understanding the brain science of attachment can give us our roadmap for reconnection even if we came from a painful past with insecure attachments
  • we can create or “earn” a secure attachment so we can offer this to our kids

For more information or to register for this event, visit the following webpage: API Live – The Gift of Being a Flawed Parent with Lu Hanessian.

Meeting Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker

A few weeks ago I received an exciting phone call from my co-leader Ivana Lombardo for our Northern Virginia chapter of Attachment Parenting International. Her news? Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker, founders of API and authors of the new book Attached at the Heart, were coming into town. Barbara and Lysa planned to promote their new book and meet with the U.S. Department of Health to discuss the  attachment parenting lifestyle. Our group had been called on to host them while they were in town; I was psyched to meet API’s founders and was able to help out by making a strawberry and almond salad for an intimate dinner with them. Below are a few photos that I took during our dinner (with alotta help from my half pint assistants Diego and Annabelle).

API founder Barbara Nicholson, who is a mom of four and a wonderful lady. She is so excited that theU.S. Dept. of Health literature is promoting AP principles like breastfeeding, responding with sensitivity to our children, and much more. I have to say that I was a little surprised at her news but am super excited to see that our government is acknowledging that AP parenting works.

You’ll notice that in this photograph of Barbara, there is a bottle. I have to admit that I felt a bit strange meeting the founders of API while bottle feeding my son Levi.  While I know that feeding with love and respect (which I am doing with a bottle) is an AP principle, I remember that once upon a time, this principle was called “breastfeeding.”  I so badly wanted to breastfeed my son Levi and I did for the first month of his life.  I shared my story of experiencing severe postpartum depression and how breastfeeding was something that I needed to let go of for sake of my mental health.  I tell myself, whenever I am feeling bad about not breastfeeding Levi, that at least I am here, functioning and loving him.

Let me tell you: Barbara and Lysa didn’t judge me for how I am feeding my baby and I thank them for that.  Moms need other moms to support them, especially when hard decisions are made.

Lysa Parker cozied up with all of our kids.  Here she is with leader Krystal MacDonald’s son Diego. Both Lysa and Barbara were so warm to our children and to us mammas too. I felt like I had known them both for a long time.

Annabelle took this photograph of Lysa. Isn’t she a beautiful lady?

The infamous Diego, who is a budding violinist and (I think) photographer.  His mamma is homeschooling him.  He is just the sweetest, smartest kid ever.

I let the kids play with Nikon.  Let’s just say that they had a great time having their own photo session:

Annabelle photographed Diego “taking a nap” while they played together upstairs in his room.

and I think she took this photo of Diego’s train mat.

This photograph belongs to either Diego or Annabelle. I loved that they immediately wanted to photograph the toys.

My co-leader Ivana Lombardo and her baby Philip.  Ivana and I gave birth around the same time.  Ivana is such a positive role model and support for our local group.  I look to her for advice since her older son Alec is almost 2 years older than my daughter Annabelle.  I have to say, having our AP support group has made such a difference in my life . . . in how I parent and how I love others too.

At dinner, we invited everyone who could come, including Diego’s tadpoles.

Krystal McDonald opened her home and her heart to all of us.  She is an amazing mom, a La Leche League leader, an API leader, and a good friend too.  I learned everything I know about cloth diapering from her, 🙂

and this beautiful window is nestled in on a stairwell in Krystal’s home.  Just gorgeous, isn’t it?  I think it really speaks to who Krystal and her family are: a connected and loving family.

Meeting Lysa and Barbara was an amazing opportunity to spend the evening with wise, loving women and our children too. I certainly felt honored and learned a lot just from listening to everyone talk about parenting, life, and making changes in the world. Definitely a night I won’t forget.

*******

Jessica Monte is a budding photographer and author of the blog Days of You and Me (once upon known as Green Mamma).  To see what Jessica is up to these days, visit http://www.greenmamma.org

API’s Blog Celebrates its Second Anniversary

Today, API Speaks, the blog of Attachment Parenting International, celebrates its second anniversary. On April 15, 2008, API Speaks launched and became part of the Attachment Parenting International publication family. During the past two years we’ve seen our readership grow and we’ve had some great bloggers share their attachment parenting stories through the blog.

Here’s an excerpt from the very first blog post, which helps share a little bit about why the blog was started.

Like so many of API’s other offerings in the realm of education, research, and support, API Speaks is volunteer-operated and provided as a free service to the AP community. Our mission is to capture the real stories of life as an AP family and to highlight the fact that, despite all the varied family structures, cultures, religions, and dynamics that exist in the world, there is one thing that unites us: Our love and compassion for our children.

That mission continues today as bloggers give us a little glimpse into their daily lives. From Gentle Baby and Toddler Sleep Tips to learning how you can be a patient parent, you’ll find a wide variety of parenting topics discussed here on API Speaks.

As we enter our third year I’d like to thank all of you for following along as our blog has grown. I’m looking forward to what the future brings as the API Speaks blogging team continues to share their first-person accounts of parenting…attachment style.