KOURTNEY Kardashian follows the ‘close parenting’ style and it could be to blame for problems in her relationship with Scott Disick, an expert has revealed.
Mother-of-two and parenting expert Kirsty Ketley previously told The Sun US how Kim’s ‘koala parenting’ style was to blame for her children’s ‘offensive behaviour’.
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Meanwhile, she also revealed how sister Kylie Jenner’s ‘self-discipline’ parenting lets Stormi choose her bedtime and whether it’s as bad as it sounds.
Now she has dug into 43-year-old Kourtney’s chosen technique for parenting children Mason, 12, Penelope (known as P), nine, and Reign, seven.
Here’s what Kirsty had to say…
Kourtney Kardashian has come under a lot of fire for her parenting, most recently for taking her children for a spin in hubby Travis Baker’s old car while they weren’t seatbelted.
But while she may make some questionable decisions when it comes to her children, one part of Kourtney’s parenting is very favorable within the parenting world.
It is that she is an advocate of Attachment Parenting, a method that has become increasingly popular among parents in recent years.
“It came naturally to me; I didn’t plan it,” she previously told Redbook magazine.
And this is so often the case with Attachment Parenting.
In a nutshell, it’s about constant physical proximity and being responsive to your baby, which includes babywearing, co-sleeping and long-term breastfeeding.
The idea is that by attending to a baby’s needs in a responsive way, you help them feel safe and secure.
Pediatrician William Sears and his wife Martha formally developed the method in the 1980s.
The core idea is a secure parent-child attachment, achieved by being sensitive and responsive, paves the way for their independence and secure relationships as an adult.
It’s something all parents want for their kids and, like Kourtney, it feels natural, which is why it’s become such a popular way to parent.
There is no need for parents to follow all the practices outlined in the style and there is no checklist, so parents can take what they feel works and leave the rest.
Since there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to parenting, this is welcome.
But in case you’re wondering, here are the main features of this approach:
- Keep your baby close often (babywearing)
- Encourage a nurturing touch (Kangaroo grooming and skin-to-skin)
- Breastfeeding on demand
- Avoid a strict, adult-imposed feeding schedule
- Om responds to a baby’s cry
- Being sensitive and responsive to a child’s emotions
- Sleeping together
Many parents do not want to co-sleep, carry a baby or breastfeed long-term, they have ideas of being able to put the baby down whenever they have to and visions of their baby sleeping happily in the crib.
But as Kourtney explains, the realities of having a baby are often very different from expectations.
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“When I had Mason, co-sleeping just kind of happened naturally. It’s what worked for all of us to get the most sleep, so I quickly embraced it,” the mom revealed to Redbook.
In a later piece for her own lifestyle website Poosh, Kourtney added: “I remember going through times trying to get him to sleep in his own bed.
“Many nights he would start in his room and go into ours.
“I eventually embraced a family bed and followed suit for when he was ready to sleep in his room.
“When he was seven, he started sleeping on his own in his room.”
How to co-sleep safely
For the first six months, the safest place for your baby to sleep is in a crib or bed, in the same room as mother.
But if, like Kourtney, you decide to co-sleep, here are a few things Kirsty says to remember.
- Keep pillows, sheets, blankets away from your baby or any other items that could obstruct your baby’s breathing or cause them to overheat.
- Avoid leaving pets or other children in the bed
- Make sure that baby cannot fall out of bed or get trapped between the mattress and wall
- Do not sleep together if you or your partner have been drinking, smoking or using drugs
- Do not co-sleep if your baby was a low birth weight (2.5 kg or less) or premature (before 37 weeks).
- Do not sleep with your baby in the pram or recliner
- If you fall asleep while feeding, place your baby on his back immediately after waking up, preferably on a separate sleeping surface
This is definitely a positive that many parents will relate to. But what other benefits are there to using the Attachment Parenting style?
It has been shown to buffer the effects of parental stress on a child, reducing the likelihood of emotional and behavioral problems resulting from this stress, and it helps children regulate their emotions more effectively – which can mean fewer tantrums.
It is said that children who have a secure attachment become not only more confident, but also smarter.
Toddlers with a secure attachment score have been shown to do better on intelligence tests, and research babies who received skin-to-skin care in their first few weeks had better sleep patterns as they grew.
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So what about the cons?
Some feel that this can have a negative impact on other relationships in a parent’s life.
Co-sleeping can mean, for example, that one parent sleeps in another room and may feel neglected, as Scott Disick (39) did during the early years of son Mason’s life.
Attachment Parenting can also be seen as a privilege for those who do not have to return to work.
However, Kourtney is a great example of how Attachment Parenting can work, often putting her family first to maintain that secure bond (as seen on KUWTK in 2020, when she decided to take a break from filming to focus on mom- be too focused), while still ready to work.
Kirsty Ketley, 41, from Surrey, UK, is a parenting consultant at Auntie K’s Childcare and mum to Ella, nine, and Leo, five.
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