Attachment Parenting

So I was reading  TIME article earlier today and it was discussing the philosophy behind attachment parenting. Attachment parenting believes in always being there for your child when they are an infant into childhood. Every cry in the night, cuddle your baby, every whine for attention, console your baby, every sleepless night, bring your child into the bed with the parents (although I heard this can be quite dangerous with a child). Every need your child cries and yearns for always be there for them and be by your baby every waking moment of the day.... Jesus effing christ and people wonder why there are such spoiled children in the world. These children become so attached to their parents and vice versa that even letting the child go to school on their own becomes an astronomical, almost impossible feat of pure willpower.

Even if this attachment parenting lasts for the adolescent years these kinds of actions roll over into everyday life. Parents become so attached to their children's lives that they begin living vicariously through them, deciding what sport they will do, what they will study, who they will date, what friends they can and cannot have. Although, parents are supposed to be the guiding light for the children don't let that light transform into a leash. Children are meant to explore and discover on their own, it is all part of the learning process and part of becoming an adult. Everyone learns from their mistakes and I believe that the more mistakes you make early on (considering they aren't the kinds of mistakes that put you in the same room with a 300 pound man named Bubba patiently waiting for you to drop a bar of soap) the quicker the learning curve of life will develop.

I was listening to a show on NPR about how some parents in America do EVERYTHING for their children. Go to interviews for their children, sit there for every homework assignment in school, apply to colleges for them, apply for scholarships, going to professional career interviews with their children. How far with this cycle of attachment go? How will any of these coddled children ever survive in the harsh world without any individual training? The ability of these parents to drop absolutely everything in order to live their children's lives absolutely amazes me.