A living example of the benefits of attachment parenting
Before he even knew it had a name, my husband practiced attachment parenting methods with his daughter. Even after the divorce, when she was in his care, he practiced his own form of AP. Even when I first met her, when she was 6, he was still treating her with respect, as an individual, who he had to understand so that he could guide her in life. He was not the boss, he was a guide that she respected and trusted. Of course, there are always times when it comes down to ‘Because I’m the parent and I said so’, but those times were much fewer than I was used to seeing. It was a bit annoying to me, at first, being used to a more authoritarian and hands-off method of parenting at that time in my life.
As far as we know… My stepdaughter’s mother was a more authoritarian parent, demanding obedience instead of teaching understanding and respect.
Now that she’s 14, we don’t have any problems with her behavior when she’s with us. She still trusts us to guide her and we trust her to make good decisions for herself based on the intelligence and empathy that we know she possesses. I can’t remember the last time that I had to ‘discipline’ her in any way.
On the other hand, whenever her mom talks to my husband about her behavior in their house, it sounds like she is more of a rebellious, trouble-making teenager there. Her mom’s always worried about the potential of her getting into trouble in the coming years.
I’m glad that we’re using AP methods with the younger kids, now 
It just feels like the naturally right way of teaching them about life and relating to them.
