By Rita Brhel, managing editor & API leader
I am quite happy with the preschool that my children attended, although it took a lot of interviewing teachers and visiting sites, and a bit of trial-and-error, to …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and API leader
There is still a lot of discussion centering on Attachment Parenting, even though the controversial TIME coverage was almost three weeks ago, which is equal to eons away …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and API leader
Various parenting approaches are usually categorized as either child-centered or parent-centered, and there is great contention about which is better for both children and parents. Child-centered, critics say, …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and API Leader
“The question should not be, ‘Are you mom enough?’ The questions should be:

Are you responsively parenting your child in a timely way?
Are you attuned to his or her …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
There is a fine line between physical punishment and child abuse, at least as the law sees it. Just where does the line lie between …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
Like many new parents, I naively believed that once I got past the first few years of physically intense infant and toddler care, that surely …

Maybe you never knew there was a name for it – the unique way you raise your child – but it’s in tune with your child’s needs and with your own needs, and …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)

Breastfeeding has seen the gamut in terms of public support. For centuries, it was the most natural thing to do, and then in the mid-20th …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
Natasha Hartley doesn’t see herself as an expert in Attachment Parenting, but the many people who know her say she definitely knows what she’s doing …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
Earlier this year, I attended a day session put on by the Appelbaum Training Institute in Omaha, Nebraska USA. The purpose of this session was …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
“No!”
“You’re so mean.”
“I hate you!”
“Daddy lets me.”
“You like him better than me.”
“Why should I?”
“You can’t make me!”
“That’s mine!”
“I don’t want to.”
Kids say the darndest things, …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
My four-year-old is exceptionally smart but has a tough time with social relationships due to developmental delays spurring from prematurity. In fact, she’s in a …

A 2009 online survey by Attachment Parenting International revealed that parents around the world are hungry for support and education in their Attachment Parenting choices. Results from the survey clarify API’s role in providing this support.
This …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
Having nursed one child and not the other, I can say with confidence that there is something truly magical about the breastfeeding relationship. So much …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
In the United States alone, there are 3.2 million referrals to social services on allegations of child maltreatment each year – one-quarter of which are found …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
I have to admit that before I read the latest addition to the Sears Parenting Library – The Autism Book: What Every Parent Needs to …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
The personal stories of families and individuals affected by autism in the beautifully photographed book, From Heartache to Hope: Middle Tennessee Families Living with Autism …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
According to cultural standards, I am not an adult, even though I am many years out of school, own my home, have been married for …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
A cup of hot cocoa, a bubble bath, a cozy blanket, a cuddle with a fluffy dog, a steamy bowl of soup, a tuck into …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
When we think of the Attachment Parenting International Principle of Feeding with Love and Respect, what first pops into our minds is a woman enjoying …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
Attachment Parenting International’s seventh of the Eight Principles of Parenting, Providing Consistent and Loving Care, explains how babies and young children have an intense need …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
Who’s teaching your children about food and nutrition? As much as parents hope the answer is them, even attached children are barraged by food messages …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
As attachment parents, we need to be sure that we love and accept our children no matter what – and this includes their weight. Some …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
Georgia Jones isn’t accustomed to addressing a crowd as knowledgeable about food as are many attached parents. An University of Nebraska-Lincoln nutrition professor, Jones spends …

By Rita Brhel, managing editor and attachment parenting resource leader (API)
In an unprecedented move, Attachment Parenting International gathered eight brilliant minds in Attachment Parenting for the organization’s 15th Anniversary Celebration gathering the last weekend of …