2 notes

“I practice AP, but, I call it something else: Lazy Parenting™. It’s true. While the media touts the various tenets of AP as strange, out there, and controversial, I’m here to tell you that you can also look at them as a lazy (and cheap) parent’s dream solution.

First off, AP doesn’t require a lot of extraneous stuff. For anyone who has ever set foot into a Babies R Us, you know that there is a multi-billion dollar industry devoted to convincing you that babies and little kids need tons and tons of crap (that you end up just throwing out or begging someone on Craiglist to haul away from you). And that stuff costs money. Co-sleeping? No need to buy a crib. Babywearing? Most slings/wraps/carriers cost much less than strollers. Breastfeeding? Much cheaper than formula. Cloth diapers? Over the course of your child’s life, you will spend less on cloth than disposable.

Beyond the cost-saving factors that drew me to AP, I was mostly excited by the lazy factor. As a co-sleeping family, I simply rolled over and fed my child during the night, barely conscious as I did so, allowing all of us to get a decent night’s sleep. Of course, we safely co-slept, and I encourage anyone who would like to do the same to learn how to do so properly.

There are many other facets of AP that make it the lazy parent’s dream come true, but you will rarely see it promoted as such in the media. I’m not quite sure why. Perhaps headlines like “Nuts, Natural, or Normal?” garner more readers than a matter-of-fact article that doesn’t sensationalize or dramatize?”