Yahoo Lifestyle The ‘Blossom’ approach to parenting
In the 90s, she charmed the world with her portrayal of the title character in the coming-of-age sitcom ‘Blossom’, but since becoming a mum seven years ago, Mayim Bialik’s focus has been firmly on her family.
So much so in fact that she’s now sharing her controversial approach to parenting with the world in her new book ‘Beyond the Sling; A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way’.
Bialik, who has a PhD in neuroscience, says her book aims to address the stigmas that surround attachment parenting, and says it is based on both her personal experiences raising sons Miles and Frederick, and her years of studying the way the brain works.
‘"I think the general notion is that attachment parenting is building a relationship and not enforcing rules and boundaries and things that parents think the children should do,’ Bialik told the LA Daily News.
‘Doing a graduate degree in neuroscience, studied human attachment and embryology and all sorts of things that reinforced a lot of what I was seeing.’
Among the concepts discussed in her book are preparing for a natural birth, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, carrying your baby or wearing him in a sling or baby carrier instead of placing him in a stroller or pram, and practising positive discipline.
Bialik is quick to point out however that positive discipline does not equate to permissive parenting, rather it involves establishing boundaries in a positive manner.
‘I think any time you try to tell a child what they're feeling, it's confusing. And so gentle discipline seeks to do a lot of reflective listening and a lot of talking to children instead of telling them,’ she told the LA Daily News.
Bialik says her book seeks to help normalise the attachment approach to parenting, and to show support for those practicing its principles.
‘Attachment parenting is not some weird French freakish thing, it's not a rich celebrity thing, and it's not for crazy crunchy granola moms who you would never want to hang out with. There's plenty of educated people who do this. It's not a parenting style of passivity, it's an active choice to parent this way because it means something, and it's meaningful and it also microbiologically makes sense."
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