“You need to teach them to self-soothe!” “You need to be involved and always respond to their cries.” “You don’t want to spoil them, right?”

With all this whirlwind of advice out there, how can parents know what the best approach is to raising their children and establishing healthy, lasting relationships with them? The book “Heart Bonds” is a wonderful awakening call for all parents. Authors Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker have developed eight principles of parenting designed to nurture compassionate and connected families.

The increasingly popular concept of “attachment parenting” is presented as a way to activate optimal child development, thereby avoiding the rising rates of depression, anxiety, attention deficit disorders, behavioral disorders, suicide, and other serious mental health issues in children. This tender book invites parents to embrace their natural instincts and take on a more nurturing parenting role. Offering a scientific perspective and encouraging humorous anecdotes, Nicholson and Parker guide parents on how to better respond to their children's needs respectfully and in a sensitive, developmentally appropriate way, thus strengthening the parent-child bond. It covers all aspects of parenting, from choosing an obstetrician-gynecologist, breastfeeding guidelines, and safe co-sleeping, to responding to toddlers' tantrums and intense emotions! This book invites and empowers you to focus on positive parenting, designed to care for children with empathy and connection. Many researchers in developmental psychology and neuroscience agree that the time for attachment parenting is NOW!