This Black History Month, the National Museum of African American History and Culture recognizes the importance of Black Health and Wellness. In this blog, we celebrate the unsung work of birth workers like midwives and doulas by exploring their historical and cultural legacy. In our follow-up blog, we’ll explore the challenges faced today by contemporary Doulas and Midwives.
Monthly Links
API Links is a monthly e-newsletter to help keep parents, professionals, and others abreast of the latest news and research in Attachment Parenting and updates of API programs.
Anyone can receive API Links! Click here to subscribe.
Prepare for Pregnancy, Birth, and Parenting
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Strive for Balance in Personal and Family Life
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On Tuesday March 8, 2022, International Women’s Day, the Global Women’s Strike (GWS) will launch an international survey, “What Do Mothers and Caregivers Want?” This event opens a year of celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the International Wages for Housework Campaign which coordinates GWS. Policy makers and others often assume that childcare and other care services are all that mothers and other caregivers need. But we are never asked what we think of the caring work we do, the resources we have or don’t have, or our relationships with those we care for.
For the first time unwaged caregivers in different countries and cultures, and of different genders, will be asked for their views on caregiving, the most important work of society. Some of the questions include:
· How many hours a week do you spend caregiving?
· Did you get the support you needed to breastfeed?
· Do you find it hard to have to go out to work when your child or relative is unwell?
· If you had no financial pressure, would you do the waged job you are doing now?
· Do you think caring work is a contribution to society that should be paid?
The webinar that launches this survey will hear from mothers and caregivers from a number of countries, including Argentina, Burma, Ca
For more information on the survey and other anniversary events:
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Dear Reader,
POP QUIZ:
What one activity accomplishes all of the following?
+ Reduced heart rate and blood pressure, increased endorphin production, enhanced immune system, and lessened impact of stress.
+ Increased life expectancy, with improved quality of life at the same time.
+ Greater feeling of self-worth, confidence, and a sense of purpose, especially in tough times.
+ Friendships that buffer against stress and illness. Opportunity to meet and connect with new people, building vital interpersonal ties and social networks that can combat depression and isolation.
+ Greater functional ability and better health outcomes later on in life.
Know what it is yet? Is it mothering? Oops, sorry, no. Exercise? Eating right? No again.
These people know the answer: Art Yuen, Stephanie Petters, and Lisa Feiertag.
Need another clue? Art is API’s Research Coordinator; Stephanie is API Reads Manager; and Lisa is Leader Applicant Liaison.
You guessed right. The answer to all of the questions above is VOLUNTEERING! This is the activity that proves that Art, Stephanie, and Lisa are smart women who care not only about the well-being of families across the world but also about their own well-being.
API is so very grateful to these women and ALL of our volunteers! Because of them, and because of you who show the world what Attachment Parenting looks like in real life, API is changing the face of parenting. We’re making the world a better place for our children, their children, and even our own generation.
Want to get in on the fun? Want to live longer, healthier, and happier? Join us!
The volunteers I’ve met through API are some of the most brilliant, compassionate, friendliest, and thinking women I’ve ever met. I’d love for you to meet them too! Contact Christy at volunteers@attachmentparenting.org to find out more.
*****
Please join us in welcoming our newest Leaders: Lacey Bisnett,
API of Topeka, Kansas; Candice Garrison, API of Knoxville, Tennessee; Hilary Buckwalter, API of Duluth, Minnesota; and Thiago Queiroz, API Rio, Brazil. Welcome!
API announces its newest Member of API Research Advisory Council, Lisa Reagan! Lisa is cofounder of Families for Conscious Living and Executive Editor of Kindred. On a mother (of a) quest for 15 years as a journalist, activist, and nonprofit visionary, Lisa Reagan explores the space between our unsustainable industrial story and the emerging story of what is possible for Cultural Creative families – who are leading the way forward.
Welcome to Lisa and all our new Leaders.
Camille North,
API Links Editor
Please let us know what you like and what could be better about Links - contact us at apilinks@attachmentparenting.org.
You can forward this enews to a friend.
API is a free enewsletter, dedicated to bringing you information to support you in your parenting journey.
API Links you to...
We're rolling out the new, streamlined Links! Now you can find all of this month's articles on our new APedia site! This site will make it a breeze to check out the latest news API has found to help you parent successfully.
This month, we bring you news on lots of exciting topics. Click here to see the latest information on natural labor; the most important ten minutes of a child's day; breastfeeding and childhood disability; breastfeeding interventions; competitiveness; and MORE!
Honor your mother!
In honor of Mother's Day, please send us your mother's name and watch the love grow. Visit our website on May 11 and API will reveal the Mother's Day heart created by you. Submit names to media@attachmentparenting.org.
Lysa Parker gives talk for iMothering
"Empathy: The key to creating a compassionate world"
What is empathy and why is it so important?
What happens when it doesn’t develop?
Looking at the science of empathy, epigenetics and parenting practices, Lisa discusses how Western culture got it wrong and how bringing back empathy needs to become a priority in our parenting practices in order to create a more compassionate world.
Lysa's talk is free and will be available until April 30th.
Leader milestones
Congrats, Leaders!
1-Year Anniversary:
Sara Rust
5-year Anniversary:
Mary King
10-year Anniversary:
Lisa Feiertag
- Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Attachment Parenting International Inc whenever you shop on AmazonSmile.
- AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same prices, same Amazon Prime benefits.
- Support API by starting your shopping at smile.amazon.com.
Thank you to all our API Volunteers!
Last week was National Volunteer Week in the United States, and similar observances are coming up in other countries.
With volunteers all over the world, API is grateful to its volunteers every day of the year.
We're taking this moment to invite you to join us in recognizing how vital our volunteers are and considering the life-changing work they're doing. If you have a volunteer serving in your community, we hope you will reach out and let them know you appreciate them. Write us and tell us about them! And if you’re looking to make life better, consider becoming an API volunteer.
Thank you to all the API volunteers, from 1994 to today!
Calling all mothers with 3- to 5-year-old children!
We invite you to help University of Notre Dame researchers map what is important about early experience for children’s well-being.
Take a survey about you and your child’s early experience (anonymous data collection) which takes from 40 minutes to an hour. As part of your participation, earn a $10 giftcard to The Children’s Place. We continue until 400 moms participate. (Earlier glitch declining participation in the survey is now fixed. If you were already able to successfully complete the survey there is no need to take it again.)
API celebrates 20 years!
In 1994, API began with a mission to bring research and support to parents, with a focus on fostering secure attachment. Today, API continues that mission because of the grassroots movement reflecting the deep concern for our children, families, and their future. The simple truth is that when we strengthen families, we nurture and fulfill our children's need for trust, respect, and affection, and ultimately provide a lifelong foundation for healthy, enduring relationships.
API promotes parenting practices that create strong, healthy emotional bonds between children and their parents. For life. So they can take those bonds with them into their adult lives and share them with their children. And their children can do the same. A life cycle of compassion and connection.
This online conference is going on now!
API Leader Kelly Bartlett will present "Attachment Parenting; Creating a Foundation for Healthy Child Development."
Be sure to tune in for other great interviews with Dr. Laura Markham, Elizabeth Pantley, Dr. Jay Gordon, and many more.
April 25, 2014
Do Well and Do Good...
Support the mission of API and connect with your target audience.
Contact advertising@attachmentparenting.org
to help you create an advertising package to fit your message and budget.
API is proactively engaged with organizations with diverse missions and activities in order to leverage and expand our work in supporting all parents, children and families to promote secure attachments and strong, positive relationships.
Want to Change a Life?
You can now apply online
and learn more about
becoming an API Leader!
Did You Have an Aha! Moment Reading One of These Links?
If so, we couldn't be more pleased to serve you. Help us serve others too. Please consider donating $20, $10, or even $5. API is a non-profit organization and it depends on your tax-deductible donations.
Photos by K. Kendall from here and by Studio SoCal History from here.
Quick Links
Your API Links - April 2014: Pop quiz!
