The following post, part of the AP Month 2009 Blog Carnival, is from API Co-Founder and author of Attached at the Heart, Barbara Nicholson.
Attachment Through the Teen Years
What does Attachment Parenting look like during the teen years? Is it all smooth sailing because we did our job in early childhood, carrying our babies in slings, giving them lots of love and attention, learning about positive discipline and empathic listening? Perhaps if we could raise our children in a vacuum, with no contact with the tsunami called American culture, we might have a chance!
All families will have their challenges, whether it’s the bully on the playground, the incessant marketing that bombards us every day through TV, billboards, radio, and other media, or even the economic pressures that many families are under. Drugs and alcohol will always be a part of our teens’ exposure, no matter how we raise our children, not to mention the angst of first time relationships and raging hormones!
So here is the good news: you are way ahead when you have developed a strong trusting relationship with your children. All the things that we do with our little ones apply strongly to the teen years: keeping the lines of communication open, being a good listener, and staying firm on our boundaries.
Continue reading “Attachment Through the Teen Years – AP Month 2009”
Happy 
The following post, Attachment Parenting and Autism, has been submitted by Amy as part of the AP Month 2009 blog carnival. If you are interested in participating in the carnival, view the 
I can’t tell you when he changed. Looking back, there is no particular “ah ha!” moment. I know that one day Daniel said “Hat!” and I rejoiced. It was our first new word in months. I began to notice that my child could say “hat” and little else. He moved constantly, always on the go. He was into everything and still would not talk. When his peers were making simple sentences and observations, we still only had “hat.” Words were slowly disappearing. We justified, blaming our recent moves, new baby and changes in routine.
This past Thursday night, I went to hear music at night for the first time in over three years. It wasn’t just going out, or getting to hear music, but going out by myself. It came about because I received a link to a sample class on 
recently. It included an exercise in which you are supposed to write down what you would do on a four-hour solo date. There were rules: no errands, movies, or shopping. It really got me thinking. I actually get a three – four hour block of time on a pretty regular basis, but usually I use it to write or clean the house. So I made a list that differentiated between things I might like to get to do alone instead of with a nearly-three year old in tow versus things that would actually restore some sense of myself. 