API Newsletter
If any of you get the API e-newsletter - Pam, one of the directors - did a little article on us. It was mostly out of desperation she chose us - the first family fell through and she needed to get it out ASAP;-)
Attachment Parenting International
March 2007
API Links
A Monthly eNewsletter from
Attachment Parenting International Our mission is to promote parenting practices that create strong, healthy emotional bonds between children and their parents. We believe these practices nurture and fulfill a child's need for trust, empathy, and effection, providing a lifelong foundation for healthy, enduring relationships.
Read Our Eight Ideals
In This Issue Connections Pendant The Circle of Support Adoptive Families Suporting Each Other Children's Day Jumping to Conclusions Say Thank You Wise Words New Parent Support Group API Membership On the API Website
About API
Join API or Donate
API Bookstore
API Merchandise
Find a Local Group
Greetings!
We at API hope everyone is enjoying the start of spring! This means saying goodbye to harsh snowstorms and the flu season, and hello to warmer weather, budding flowers and the chirps of robins. Many of us are looking forward to taking our children for a stroll outside, for a change. Hopefully, everyone will get a chance to enjoy this wonderful season of new life and renewed spirits!
Limited Edition "Connections" Pendant
New for Mother's Day!
Support API through the purchase of
this stunning "Connections" pendant,
exclusive to API, and perfect for
Mother's Day!
Attachment Parenting International has partnered with Barb Lattin, API Leader and owner of Little Things, to produce an original, hand-crafted sterling silver pendant. "Connections" has substantial weight,
yet it is light enough to wear daily, and will complement a t-shirt as well as a little black dress.
Representing the connections evident in the lives of all women, the pendant is especially beautiful as a symbol of motherhood. The inner nest and its
connections to the outer frame evoke warm and powerful images of family bonds, interpersonal relationships, friendship networks, emotional support structures, and even spirituality. The stunning design embodies the name "Connections."
"Connections" is an exclusive design created for Attachment Parenting International using the same care and artistic flair that Little Things customers have come to expect. Little Things will donate 50% of the proceeds to API, contributing to programs which offer support for families around the world.
Each pendant is $59.99 plus shipping & handling. Make your gift extra special by including an annual gift membership to API, and your shipping withing the United States is free! Purchase one for yourself, your daughter, your mother, and any other woman with whom you enjoy strong emotional connections. Only a limited number of pendants can be crafted in time for Mother's Day delivery!
Order Yours Today!
The Circle of Support
Meet API Member Abbey Clegg
Abbey and Rich found API when their daughter Morgann, now two, was six months old. Abbey was having trouble relating to other moms who didn't practice Attachment Parenting and had received much advice that was contrary to her intuition. "Friends recommended the Babywise method," Abbey says, "and we tried it for a weekend. I was completely stressed out because it wasn't working for any of us." Abbey trusted her instincts, and says that "responding to Morgann's needs is much easier because the entire family is so much happier." But it was lonely being the only one in her circle of friends practicing Attachment Parenting, and she lacked a support system for her beliefs.
Finding a local API group helped Abbey become confident in her parenting choices and has provided her with valuable support and helpful advice. She says, "If not for API, I would have been more stressed out as a new parent. I would have thought my child was abnormal for not sleeping through the night and for wanting to breastfeed so often. I would have doubted my ability to mother her." With the help of the leaders and members at her local API support group, Abbey continued to listen to her instincts and to investigate the parenting choices that felt right for her family. "Now that Morgann is older, I don't have to think about it so much," she says. "It's natural for me. It's just the way we do things."
API continues to be a resource for Abbey and Rich, a place where they can ask questions of other parents with similar beliefs. "I'm currently getting advice on potty learning," Abbey says, "My friends at API are able to provide ideas and resources that work for me." And Abbey is now able to return the gift that API has given her by supporting new parents as they join her local group. "It is so rewarding to develop relationships with new moms and to see them overcome the same perceived issues that I did. It's rewarding to help show them their child is normal, and that they are doing a great job."
When you support API, you support the efforts of local support groups in reaching parents like Abbey.
Join API or make a donation!
Reaching out to Adoptive Families
API Needs Your Help!
API is implementing a program to connect with individuals and organizations who work with families who are either planning to adopt or who have recently adopted. Unfortunately, there is currently no national database of adoption professionals. Would you please collect a list of professionals supporting adoptive families in your area? You may
find this information in the local phone book, online, or through the recommendations of friends. Please forward your list of local resources, including their contact information, to adoption@attachmentparenting.org, or call API at (615) 298-4334. We look forward to helping to educate the adoption community on the importance of Attachment Parenting! Thank you in advance!
For more information about the importance of Attachment Parenting in adoptive families, consider attending the 2007 ATTACh Conference on October 9th in Providence, Rhode Island. API will be offering a full day pre-conference workshop for adoptive families. This collaboration between API and ATTACh is the first of its kind, allowing both organizations to reach a new audience. ATTACh serves families of children with attachment disorders and the therapists who work with them.
When you support API, you support this and other important projects.
Join API or make a donation!
API Members Supporting Each Other
The "CARE" Committee of API of North Fulton, GA
One of the advantages of local API support groups is that they help create a sense of community, creating the "village" that is so often missing from our lives. One heartwarming example of how villages create strong families can be found in an API support group in Georgia.
API of North Fulton implemented a CARE Committee, with the purpose of providing support to families when they most need it, such as in the final stages of pregnancy, just after birth, during times of illness, or when moving. Members of the committee deliver food, arrange play dates, and offer to care for children so that the parents can sleep or regain balance.
The committee was developed by Stephanie Petters, API Leader and Regional Director, and has transitioned to API members Catherine Weiss, Leyai von Rotz, and Cason Zarro. The committee has provided support to many grateful families, and expects the participation in the program to grow. Stephanie Petters says, "The CARE Committtee is a wonderful asset to the the local community of API families and is a success due to the active participation of members who are willing to reach out their hands and offer support."
API would like to express our gratitude to all members of the North Fulton CARE Committee. From left to right, they are Catherine, Beth, Lea Emily, Mandy, Alex (the baby), Evelyn, Jennifer, Stephanie, Deayne, and Kristen. With each interaction they provide, the North Fulton village grows stronger.
To support the effots of local API support groups such as API of North Fulton, join API or make a donation. To find a suport group near you, visit the API Web site. If there is no group in your area, consider forming one! Through the effots of our local support groups, we can create a village for all parents who need one.Children's Day 2007
Save the Date!
Moms, dads, grandparents, even secretaries have a special day devoted to them. What about our children?
API has it covered! Mark your calendars, and join API in celebration of Children's Day on October 6, 2007. "Connecting through Music" is the theme for this year's inaugural events. Stay tuned for more details on celebrations in your community and around the world.
When you support API, you support Children's Day and other important projects.
Join API or make a donation!
Jumping to Conclusions
Traci's Story
There are times that we can't help but find ourselves victims of our own human nature. We jump to conclusions. Attachment Parents (AP) are no less susceptible. It's easy to see a mother doing something you believe you would never do: using a pacifier, bottlefeeding, using disposable diapers, pushing a stroller instead of wearing a sling, (or add your own favorite), and to assume that it's a (bad) parenting choice.
One mother learned all too well that one shouldn't assume, when she was forced to stop breastfeeding her infant to save her own life. She shares her experience, how she learned to bottlefeed in AP style, and the importance of recognizing and supporting any mother's efforts to practice AP behaviors.
Read Traci Singree's story in the New Baby/Breastfeeding issue of Attachment Parenting: The Journal of Attachment Parenting International with an estimated due date of April 2007!
Join API Now to Receive This Issue and Read More
Say "Thank You" to Someone Special
Send Us Your Tributes!
Want to say "thank you" to someone special in your life who supports you in your Attachment Parenting journey? We'll be publishing your personal tributes on the API Web site and in the June issue of Attachment Parenting:The Journal of API. Take a moment today to thank your partner, parent, sibling, neighbor, friend, child, health care provider, or anyone else who makes Attachment Parenting possible for you!
Simply fill in the blanks of this sentence: My ___ supports my Attachment Parenting by ___. For example, "My mom supports my Attachment Pareting by being patient when my 2-year-old son takes a little time to warm up during her visits", or "My friend Sally supports my Attachment Parenting by playing with my son while my daughter and I take a nap."
Send your tribute, along with your first name and city and state of residence, to editor@attachmentparenting.org. Submit by April 30th for inclusion in Attachment Parenting: The Journal of API. If your tribute goes to someone who is not already a member of API, make your sentiments extra special by giving them a gift membership to API. Then they'll receive the Jounal in their mailbox and see your tribute personally!
Send a Trbute Now!Wise Words
from Rachel Carson
If a child is to keep his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.
Welcome New API Group
API of Loveland Tribe, API
We are pleased to announced the first new API support group of 2007: the Loveland Tribe API of Colorado. Along with the new group comes a new leader, Suzy Hawbaker. Welcome, Suzy! We appreciate your efforts to promote Attachment Parenting!
We have an additional 30 leader applications pending, many who plan to form new support groups. This is great news, since the more API support groups there are, the stronger our network of support and the stronger our voice in educating about and advocating for Attachment Parenting.
Visit our Web site to find a Parent Support Group near you, or to learn about becoming a Leader Applicant. When you support API, you support our efforts to educate our Leaders.
Join API or Make A Donation!
API Membership
Join Today!
By becoming a member of API, you help reach other parents and professionals through education, support, advocacy, and research. Our efforts touch the lives of parents worldwide through local support groups, our quarterly publication, Attachment Parenting: The Journal of API, this newsletter, and national advocacy efforts. In addition, your membership donation contributes to innovative projects such as the creation of a comprehensive Attachment Parenting curriculum, the formation of strategic alliances with like-minded organizations, the expansion of our network of AP-Friendly Professionals, and the upgrade of our Web site to become the premier Attachment Parenting online community.
Benefits of Individual / Family Membership, which is $35 per year, include:
- Four issues of Attachment Parenting: The Journal of API
- Membership in local parent support (mention your local group when you join and $15 of your membership is retained for use in your local community)
- Discounts and early registration for API conferences and select other events
- Share your passion; opportunity to become an API Leader, start a new support group, or donate your skills to the API Headquarters Team
- All the benefits of Individual / Family Membership
- Two extra outreach copies each quarter of Attachment Parenting: The Journal of API
- Opportunity to purchase 25 additional copies of each issue of The Journal of API (100 total copies) for only $100 per year
- Special invitation to professional events hosted by API and our partners
- Access to professional brochures and materials as they become available.
- Invitation to join an online discussion forum of professionals who support Attachment Parenting
Join API Today!
The mission of Attachment Parenting International (API) is to promote parenting practices that create strong, healthy emotional bonds between children and their parents. These practices nurture and fulfill a child's need for trust, empathy and affection, providing a lifelong foundation for healthy, enduring relationships.
Through education, support, advocacy and research, API seeks to strengthen families and increase awareness of the importance of secure attachment, ultimately helping to reduce or prevent child abuse, behavioral disorders, criminal acts and other serious social problems.
I hope you enjoyed this issue of APILinks! If you have questions, comments, or suggestions about this eNewsletter, please contact me.
Warmly,
Rita Brhel, Editor
Attachment Parenting International
e-mail: apilinks@attachmentparenting.org
web: http://www.attachmentparenting.org