FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Attachment Parenting International
Rita Brhel, Editor Samantha Gray, Executive Director
editor@attachmentparenting.org samantha@attachmentparenting.org
402-841-8734 423-956-3525


Parenting Organization Explores the Importance of Sharing Birth Stories
Attachment Parenting International gives birth to new magazine

NASHVILLE, TENN. (May 13, 2009) — Attachment Parenting International (API) is helping mothers – and fathers – learn the importance of sharing their children’s birth stories in its debut of The Attached Family, a new magazine for families practicing Attachment Parenting.
Attachment Parenting is an approach to child-rearing that promotes strong emotional bonds between parents and their children through sensitivity and responsiveness to children’s emotional, as well as physical, needs – reducing the risk of mental illness, substance and alcohol abuse, juvenile delinquency, and other unhealthy behaviors that face today’s society.
The Attached Family is a contemporary take on API’s longtime quarterly newsletter, formerly The Journal of API, and is the print extension of the informational website, TheAttachedFamily.com, which was launched during API’s 2008 Attachment Parenting Month in October. This new magazine comes at a pivotal time for API as the organization celebrates its 15th anniversary and the release of Co-founders Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker’s book, Attached at the Heart.
This first issue of The Attached Family centers on the power of the birth story – to empower parents to tell their birth stories both as a way to educate parents-to-be and to allow those parents to heal from their disappointing experiences, as well as to encourage a safe, accepting atmosphere for all women to share their birth stories whether they gave birth at home or in a hospital, with or without interventions.
“The topic was largely influenced by the number of women who came forth to share their experiences with childbirth that were less than ideal and even some that have left deep emotional scars years later,” says Rita Brhel, editor of The Attached Family, mother of two in Nebraska.
“As an attachment parent, they so strongly want the best for their children and that includes as natural a birth experience as possible. But, when complications arise and interventions are needed, those hopes and expectations can be shattered,” Brhel continues. “Through this issue of The Attached Family, I wanted to help API be able to reach out to these parents, to show them acceptance and empathy, and to help them in their journey of parenthood.”
The centerpiece of this issue is an article written by API member Tamara Parnay, a mother of two in The Netherlands, in which she challenges readers to take back the wisdom and control of giving birth by first cultivating an empathetic environment in which to share their stories.
“Even the most informed people can run into unplanned – and sometimes serious – complications during the birth process,” Parnay writes. “By no means is it justifiable for anyone to be made to feel negatively about whatever birthing options they choose, or for whatever birthing experience they have had.”
A collection of carefully selected readers’ birth stories follows, illustrating the variety of birth experiences that attachment-minded parents have experienced, from a homebirth and unmedicated hospital birth, to a birth where the mother chose pain relief and a birth that ended up in a Cesarean and how these women made peace with their choices. (API advocates for expectant parents to be as informed as possible about childbirth and to choose assisted births with as few interventions as possible.) And to show that this topic of birth stories isn’t limited to only the mother, Editor Rita Brhel interviews her husband about his feelings surrounding the medically complicated births of their two children.
This first issue of The Attached Family includes a variety of special features, such as an extensive list of resources exploring birth, reaction to the American Medical Association’s 2008 resolution against homebirth, a Q&A with API’s cofounders regarding writing a birth plan for a Vaginal Birth After Cesarean, a free drawing for a birthing skirt and nursing pads, and more.
As with past issues of API’s Journal, this issue of The Attached Family continues online at TheAttachedFamily.com with new-release book reviews, more readers’ birth stories, and articles about how childbirth interventions affect early mother-baby bonding and how Attachment Parenting can help new mothers as well as their babies.
“I’m quite pleased with this first issue of The Attached Family and how it ties into TheAttachedFamily.com, which is a great resource for parents of children of all ages and in all types of family situations,” Brhel says. “In future issues, I only see The Attached Family and TheAttachedFamily.com integrating more with each other, which is only appropriate for being print and online extensions of one another.”
The Attached Family is among the many benefits of API membership and is available four times each year, with two bonus issues in 2009 to celebrate API’s 15th Anniversary. Readers choose to receive the magazine either as a glossy covered, black-and-white print copy delivered by postal mail, or as a printable, color PDF with hyperlinks on all ads available through a download link sent via e-mail. For more information, visit www.attachmentparenting.org.

Attachment Parenting is based in the practice of nurturing methods that create strong emotional bonds, also known as secure attachment, between children and their parent(s). This style of parenting encourages responsiveness to children’s emotional needs, enabling children to develop trust that their needs will be met. As a result, this strong attachment helps children develop the capacity for secure, empathetic, peaceful, and enduring relationships that follow them into adulthood.

Attachment Parenting International (API) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit member organization founded in 1994 to network with parents, professionals and like-minded organizations around the world. API’s mission is to educate and support all parents in raising secure, joyful and empathic children in order to strengthen families and create a more compassionate world. In addition to providing assistance in forming Attachment Parenting support groups, API functions as a clearinghouse providing educational materials, research information, consultative, referral and speaker services to promote Attachment Parenting concepts.

API board and advisory board members include such noted parenting authors as Dr. William Sears and Martha Sears, R.N., co-sleeping specialist Dr. James McKenna, Lu Hanessian of LetTheBabyDrive.com, Alice Miller, and Jan Hunt of the Natural Child Project, among others.

More information about Attachment Parenting International can be found at www.attachmentparenting.org.

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