I’m reading “The Baby Book” by William and Martha Sears and their general parenting philosophy is something called “attachment parenting”, which is based on seven basic principles for babies:

1. Birth Bonding (connect with your baby early)
2. Belief in Your Baby’s Cries (read and respond to your baby’s cues)
3. Breastfeed
4. Babywearing (carry your baby a lot)
5. Bedding Close to Baby (if you baby wants to sleep with you, let them)
6. Balance and Boundaries (be appropriately responsive – make sure you are taking care of yourself)
7. Beware Baby Trainers (do what you think is right – don’t follow some plan that someone tells you that’s “best” for your baby)

What’s interesting is that their theory is that by responding to your baby (i.e. not trying to “train” them or ignoring their cries), you teach them to trust you. This will ultimately make it easier for the parents to be in charge. They also note: “The other dividend to expect is mutual sensitivity.” The Sears conducted an informal study in their practice and found that parents who used an “attachment” rather than a “training” method had more sensitive children and that “as they got older, these connected children were deeply bothered by situation that weren’t right. They were compassionate when other children cried and were quickly there to comfort.” They also had a greater capacity for intimacy because they learned to bond through touch. Their counterparts, however, tended to bond with things.

This brings to mind that Republican lingo and false pride about “pulling themselves up by their bootstraps” and about their early independence from their parents who were hard on them, who pushed them to conform to a routine and succeed. Something tells me that these parents did not use attachment parenting! That would explain the reliance on things and money for happiness as well as a lack of compassion for others.

So perhaps we should blame Bill O’Reilly’s Mom?