<p>rerunagain – are you home? I was just going to post to tell you that you were missing all the fun! ;)</p>
<p>Yep. Came home just for the entertainment factor. And yeah I should be making dinner too before I need to pick S up from school (his exam will end way after school does), bring him home, pick his sister up and take her to her aerial class (at circus school!), bring her home and have us both go to a Girl Scout meeting.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo - I’d like to take the “severely” out of my judgement comment above… I wouldn’t judge at all… just the discreet aspect makes sense - and I still don’t like that cover picture and agree it’s sensationalistic and exploitive. I stopped nursing myself because we were infertility patients and I had to start treatment again (which didn’t work - another personal topic that can be controversial and lead to all kinds of comments… ugh) but otherwise, I really can’t say when I would have quit. My guide was always our relationship and sensitivity to what was best for me and D.</p>
<p>Am I a wackaloon for just wanting the D***d paperwork to get here?</p>
<p>kathi1,</p>
<p>You’re kind to clarify but I didn’t think anything about people’s comments here, truly. Since I am in a different stage of life, I don’t give these things much thought. I just did what seemed “natural” for us (though we definitely were Dr. Sears fans early on), but that was what worked for <em>us</em> and no one else. And we didn’t advertise how we parented. </p>
<p>You have obviously walked a challenging road and you sound all the more wise and wonderful because of it!</p>
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<p>Me, too, and I’ve been trying to figure out why. Partly it’s that no child breastfeeds while standing on a chair while his half-clothed blonde nubile mother stares come hither to the camera. There’s nothing “natural” about that photo – it’s sexualized to sell magazines, not illuminate any issue around parenting styles.</p>
<p>A friend wrote last night: “Aside from the 21st-century hit-and-link-mongering, this attachment parenting brouhaha is so 1999.” And that seems right to me – maybe even 1995, as that’s when we were reading Sears and Ferber. </p>
<p>For the record: while I am very attached to my D, I never subscribed to attachment parenting per se. And certain relatives who did ended up with bratty, spoiled kids. I’m not saying all attached parented children end up that way…I’m just saying there are benefits to kids learning early that they’re not the center of the universe all the time.</p>
<p>I’m anxious about your paperwork too, momsings! Good grief what is the hold up?</p>
<p>I proctored an IB exam this morning and before it was over, one of the other mother/proctors came over and handed me a note she wanted me to give to her son when he was finished (she was supervising a different group). It was a reminder to turn in an assignment he’s got due today. Seriously? The kid’s a senior in high school! I thought we all had the market cornered on wackaloonitude. The look on the kid’s face when I gave it to him was priceless. An Olympic level eye-roll.</p>
<p>It’s sensationalism at it’s worse. And Time magazine to boot. Many of us have known families that adhere to extended nursing. It never bothered me as long as it was discrete. I also expected these mothers to not condemn me for not wanting to breastfeed – at all. SBJ – I would only be worried if you said that your MIT DS just stopped nursing last week. JK… 
It’s all good – you do not need to defend yourself to anyone.</p>
<p>Yes, MommyMommy, the stare is disconcerting. Definitely 1994 at least. I was a Baby Book afficianado because it has searchable, practical information about what to do when your baby is croupy, etc. I found some of the others to be either too method based or too anecdotal with not enough concrete stuff like the colic hold w/ heel drop for gas (when I tried Ferberization, DD cried until she puked), but this photo is trying to make moderate “attachment parenting” appear fringe.</p>
<p>Yay! I caught up! Busy morning everyone.</p>
<p>I have to admit that when I first saw the article, I said, “So what” since this looked like just another day in a Berkeley Mom’s Group in 1995 when we judge each other politely for breastfeeding, circumcision, cheerios, homeade baby foods, etc. </p>
<p>DS did two summers designed for high achieving kids at a noncompetitive college. I am sure it didn’t help him a bit, but he loved living away from home and he met some amazing kids through the state. He also would run into them at other state events, which he enjoyed. </p>
<p>Kudos to kathih1 D. Fight the Power!!!</p>
<p>Mommy, Mommy: Nail—> head. I knew the feeling I was back in that LeLeche group meeting in 1994 when I looked at that photo wasn’t just my imagination.</p>
<p>mommymommy-- you said it re: the Time cover. Typical–once the media gets hold of something, the subtlety and meaning is wrung out of it in favor of sensationalism. Sigh. I suppose I did adhere to “attachment parenting” though I wouldn’t have called it that. Seems to have worked out very well-- D was the center of my life and now she loves showering her attention on others. But it was just natural to me and to her, I didn’t follow a book! Probably wouldn’t have worked for someone else.</p>
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<p>Heh. That’s funny. I was also in northern California during this time period.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s true about ball point pens:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.funofun.com/weirdfacts.htm[/url]”>http://www.funofun.com/weirdfacts.htm</a></p>
<p>Everyone knows that the internet never lies. :P</p>
<p>I haven’t looked at the TIME cover and think this is probably a good thing and I will stick with not looking. Also fully support other moms’ right to do whatever is right for them and child (although personally favor the discreet approach with nursing toddlers mentioned by several moms. Sounds like the well thought out wackaloon way.)</p>
<p>Editing (again) to mention fellow feeling with kathieh1. The reason D is an only child born after 11 years of marriage was not that we were slow to try or wanted a small family. It was grueling, but on the plus side (and I never would have thought there was going to be an upside), 18 years later we are both still so grateful to have her, every single day. No matter what other trials may come along, we know we are so blessed.</p>
<p>^ I often felt like a fish out of water in Berkeley. We were the first of our group to get pregnant and keep the baby so it was tough to find a peer group. Everyone else was at least 5-10 years older and more advanced in their careers. Of course, I was just as judgemental as the rest, since I made my own baby foor, but since DH was the stay at home dad, I couldn’t get him to do cloth diapers, so I felt like a pariah. </p>
<p>DS directorial debut is tonight, and he is so over it all. To the point that he doesn’t think he will audition in college. I would hate to think this is the last moment for theater. I am hopeful that he will change his mind, especially if he lucks into his freshman theater class.</p>
<p>I’m still in Northern CA-- but Silicon Valley, so different dynamic (not as many earth moms?) but including “mommy wars,” of course. True, though, about the media “wringing out the subtlety.” Oh my!</p>
<p>There is a thread on breastfeeding in the Parent Cafe. I nursed my son into preschool and he seems to have turned out just fine. (Thus, the comment upthread where I joked that I expected him to thank me for the nursing when he wins a big award some day.)</p>
<p>dd12 in a car accident on the way home from school. She’s ok, very shook up and sad about her totalled car. Was working on senior slide show when we got the call. Luckily dh working from home today.</p>
<p>Just thankful…</p>
<p>Just saw the Time cover. Definitely is eye-catching, so I guess Time accomplished its goal.</p>
<p>15 years from now, folks on CC will be discussing which college the son go into and the impact of this article! :)</p>