Commentary from the web and around about the Time Magazine article about attachment parenting.
Helaine Olen: "What I am against is economic elitism in the disguise of optimal parenting. And make no mistake, when someone tells you to go borrow the bucks so you can be the best possible mom you can be, that’s exactly what is going on."
Ask Moxie: "We are too busy parenting our own kids to get all riled up about some hackneyed feud with other parents that you're making up to sell copies."
Lisa Belkin: I am not Mom enough to take the bait. To accept TIME's deliberate provocation and either get mad at this woman for what I think I know about her from this photo, or to feel inferior, or superior, or defensive, or guilty — or anything at all, if it means I am comparing myself to other mothers.
KJ Dell'Antonia: What do you mean by “mom enough,” Time magazine? What is enough? We don’t know what “mom enough” is — probably because it changes from child to child and day to day and year to year. For some of us, it’s the choice between staying home, working, and some compromise. For others, it’s between WIC and food stamps. “Enough” has whole lot of variables besides slings versus strollers.
Mary Elizabeth Williams: The entire Time cover story is framed in a way to make the viewer be simultaneously repulsed and aroused. Congratulations, editors. You’ve added to our already rampant cultural dismissal of motherhood as a kooky cult. And you’ve made a venerable news magazine one big hate bang.
Apt. 11d 
Thanks for the link to the Forbes article. I had the same thought when I saw the article — Who can afford to quit their job and stay home so that they can nurse a four year old? That lady looks like she’s had some work done (a mommy makeover perhaps?), like she has a private gym membership and a trainer, like she has a really expensive haircut and of course she doesn’t work. Leaving aside the fact that I don’t think I want to be “Mom Enough”, I don’t think I could afford to be.
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She was just on the Today show. She’s 26. Doesn’t seem to have team of stylists, chefs, etc. She was breastfed herself until the age of 6. She admits she would like the 4 year old to wean himself this year. She also said you should raise your child how is best for you.
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“Who can afford to quit their job and stay home so that they can nurse a four year old?”
Goes to show that what we need is a better discussion/understanding of what nursing a child is. No one in a developed country who nurses a 4 year old is doing so to provide complete nutrition. (I will point out some exceptions probably exist for health reasons.) I know a bunch of people on my AP list who nursed 4 year olds, and they worked full-time. One of my friends is a full-time employed outside the home single mom whose kindergartener recently weaned.
A 4 year old who nurses is probably doing a few things: alleviating thirst or hunger (which could be addressed otherwise if the mom isn’t present), getting comfort, or relaxing similar to the way many 4 year olds use a pacifier. The mom is probably providing nutrition and comfort and also connecting with her child.
Because moms who nurse older kids are often treated as aberrant, they keep quiet about it, so the end result is that people’s misconceptions continue, which is unfortunate. Maybe what will come out of this is that many women will talk about nursing and why they do it.
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The Time cover is purposefully staged to be provocative. I assume the article aims to provoke, but as I’m not a subscriber, I can’t access it.
Doesn’t matter, really.
I note that only Lisa Belkin and Ask Moxie did not reproduce the picture in their comments. Only they resisted the temptation to ramp up the manufactured controversy.
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I looked at the cover mom and immediately thought “yoga instructor.” On second thought “dance instructor.” Did I get it right?
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I usually salivate over any hit piece on Dr. Sears (my opinion is essentially Olen’s plus a bit), but the Time packaging was such a turn-off I couldn’t make myself read the thing.
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