Ms. Jong is just another talking head on the issue of parenting. While I agree that her views are thought-provoking, as a parent who has CHOSEN child-rearing methods commonly associated with "attachment parenting", I find her position a bit insulting and her assumptions, frankly, annoying.

First, "attachment parenting" does not beget "Helicopter Parenting." Just because a parent chooses to make food, use cloth diapers, or let a child eat or sleep on its own schedule does not mean that parent will be attending job interviews with their 22 year old.

Second, she assumes that all of us "attachment parents" are doing it becuase the celebs are doing it. If anyone makes parenting decisions based on what Brangelina does one week to the next, they have serious problems of their own. Most "attachment parents" I know choose those methods after a fair amount of research and family discussions.

Ms. Jong's article arouses as much guilt by stay-at-home moms, or "attachment" moms as she argues the attachment movement has done. (i.e. Oh no! By chosing to stay home with my child/make his food/wear my child/breast feed, I am contributing to the "ultimate bondage" of my fellow women?!!)

This is just another example of how motherhood is racked with guilt, no matter which side of the argument you come down on. What we need to do, as women and as a society, is BUTT OUT of everyone else's choices and allow people to make whatever choice is right for their family.

I agree with Emily. I had never heard the phrase "attachment parenting" until shortly before my second child was born, and was interested to learn that a lot of the parenting choices we had made fell into the AP category. So yes, I breastfed both kids, yes we brieflo co-slept with one of them, and yes I spent the first few years primarily as a stay home parent. But those choices were not made out of pressure to be a certain sort of mother, not did I or have I ever felt guilty or victimized. Doing it the other way would have made my life harder.

And it's not something you have to choose to do 100%. We used jarred baby food and disposable diapers, fed the babies expressed milk or formula from bottles, and btoh kids currently sleep in their own beds. And I work PT.

Sounds to me like Jung is trying to villify attachment parenting to ease her own guilt. If it didn't or wouldn't work for her, that's fine, but no need to be so vicious about something that millions of mothers are happy with.

A great essay. I have no issue with attachment parenting conceptually, though it is not the child-rearing theory to which I adhere. Nor do I feel any guilt as a result of this decision -- which was unquestionabley driven (at least in part) by the fact that I am a single mother and sole bread-winner and it is too impractical for me to apply. But I think we do the Essay a disservice if the dialogue is turned into what parenting style is best and whether Jong is trying to assuage her own guilt for not following AP (for the record, I personally think that comment is overly defensive and inaccurate). Instead, I think the author's more significant points are: (1) there is an indisputable tension between AP and the practical demands of a working mother's reality; (2) to the extent AP is glamorized (by celebs, other wealthy folks, the media, us), we ignore this to to our own detriment. If AP moms are per se "good" and non-AP moms are per se "bad" (to us and the men with whom we work) we've got a real situation on our hands....having moved from a patriarchy to a baby-archy. (I just made that word up but you get the drift....)

Interesting. I remember reading Dr. Sears' attachment parenting book when my son was an infant and thinking, "Boy, this guy really hates women." At the time I was sleep-deprived and frustrated and I have since come around, but maybe I wasn't alone in having that initial reaction!