Parent Time

When you hear the words “attachment parenting,” you probably picture moms and dads “wearing” their babies in slings, or toddlers sleeping in their parents’ beds. And while those are definitely components of attachment parenting, they’re only part of the bigger picture.

Up until about 100 years ago, parents didn’t think too much about what theory of parenting they were using. Mothers typically carried their babies in their arms or wrapped them against their bodies with strips of cloth; parents slept with their babies next to them, and babies nursed whenever they wanted to.

But in the late 1800s and early 1900s, a more “scientific” approach to parenting became popular. Doctors like US psychologist John Watson warned against spoiling children, urged strict schedules and advised parents to minimize contact with their infants. This was partly because people now knew that germs caused disease and believed that less contact between people would help stop the spread of illness.

Originally published in Today's Parent, July 2010