How our own childhood impacts our parenting

How has your childhood impacted your view on raising children? The attachment parenting style continuously brings up these topics and provides platform for parents to shape their own experiences. Aimee Wheeler again ties together her personal experiences and expert advice about parenting.
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How our own childhood impacts our parenting

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The experiences that we have as children greatly impact ultimately who we are as adults and then, as parents. So, of course, they’re going to impact your child and who your child will become. Think of it like this – this is sort of a newly born, unformed child. When this child comes into this world, looking for its environment, which is you. If you’re like this, your baby is going to form like this. If you’re like this, your baby is going to form like this. If you’re like this, your baby’s going to form like this. So let’s imagine each of those as kind of a rigid position. But if you can be more open and more flexible, your baby is going to be able to be more open and more flexible, which means that the way they engage in the world will be so too. If your baby gets shaped like this, it’s going to keep bumping into the world in a very uncomfortable way that many of us, I think, can relate to. So it is important to remember that just as you were developed based upon how your parents treated you as a child, it’s impacted who you are as an adult; it’s going to impact who you are as a parent and therefore, of course, have an impact on who your child will be.

How has your childhood impacted your view on raising children? The attachment parenting style continuously brings up these topics and provides platform for parents to shape their own experiences. Aimee Wheeler again ties together her personal experiences and expert advice about parenting.

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Aimee Wheeler, PsyD

Therapist

When her son was born, Aimee found herself in uncharted waters. She knew she wanted to be a different type of parent than her parents had been. After years of self-exploration, she felt she had healed a lot of her childhood emotional wounds and that she could be a good mother but she didn't really know how to parent differently. She went to Mommy and Me classes, breastfeeding groups, you name it, searching to fill a void she initially could not identify. They were all helpful but not what she felt she was longing for. She realized she was looking for a safe place to really talk about the challenges she was facing every day. Unfortunately, it seemed that none of the forums she found as a new mother were able to provide that. She vowed then to create such a place for parents, and the idea for Parenting Discovery Center was born.

Her educational background in psychology had nurtured her tremendous curiosity about the impact and importance of infant attachment. Her research in this area had equipped her with a conscious sieve to help evaluate the overwhelming amount of parenting advice available. What she found was that at a time of total vulnerability, parents are often taught parenting techniques that cause them to unwittingly undermine this important and essential bond. 

The Center provides a safe and supportive environment for exploring the emotions and challenges faced by new parents. They are also here to help peoople understand the importance of attachment and help parents build a conscious bond with their baby based upon their individual family's values and lifestyle. 

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