In case you missed it, Mayim Bialik is on a crusade to squash preconceived notions about her “attachment parenting” style, and she’s instead bolstered a well-deserved backlash. There are certain behaviors that parents engage in with young children that cannot and should not be executed at older ages. For example, though a mother might post a picture on facebook of her one year old daughter sans shirt, what if she did the same with her 11 year old daughter? Though the answer seems obvious, I could certainly apply the Bialik philosophy about breastfeeding on this example and insist that it’s a subjective choice that shouldn’t be judged. As another example, what if a father who kisses his three month old baby on the mouth also kisses his 12 year old daughter on the mouth? Is that ALSO subjective? Better yet, what if a father who bathes with his baby to wash her, also bathes with his 7 year old to do the same? Is that subjective?
The point of these aforementioned examples is to exemplify that there are objective truths about inappropriate parental behavior, and to suggest otherwise is not only ridiculous, it’s dangerous. Four year olds are aware of how they are being fed and their immediate surroundings. To insist that a child “self-wean” means that the child is old enough to recognize that he no longer wants to suck on his mother’s boob, which is a disturbing revelation that belongs to the mother — not the child. Watch her discuss the issue below.