I was first exposed to the term attchment parenting back before I had my first child. I resonated with me on a deep level during my pregnancy. Once she was born attachment parenting just felt right. After a few months (eh, maybe more like a year or 18 months) I stopped thinking about it so much and realized I was just ‘doing it’.

Over the years I grew less and less needful of any label for my parenting. Rather than seeking out authority to guide me I sought my inner voice when faced with a new parenting challenge. This weekend my family went for a bike ride and I realized that even our bicycling set-up reflected my parenting style perfectly.

As a family of five we have found that while it is not impossible to enjoy sports as a family, it can be challenging. This will obviously change as the children grow (the youngest is just 20 months now) but neither Brian or I wants to wait around to start doing things at some elusive and magical date in the future when the kids are bigger. So we began playing around with the different biking scenarios. The first step a couple of years ago was adding a bike trailer to my bike to tow just the two kids we currently had. This worked fine for two under 25lbs each (we grow ‘em small!). Then we added another little cutey and the search began for our next method as she grew big enough to come along.

This led to the purchase of the tag-along bike for our oldest. At 6 1/2 years old Sage is just 38 pounds and a few inches over three feet, so even though she can ride her own two wheeler fairly proficeintly she can’t go fast enough to really let the adults get our heart rates up. Also, in order to ride in our area we need a way to keep her safe on the road. The tag-along is the perfect solution! Sage can pedal along, pulling her own weight (or some of it at least!) and yet be safely held in the safety of my steering and braking. She can also learn to negotiate bumpy dirt trails and tight corners by riding along with me. Sage felt the acomplishment of the uphill battle and the thrill of her first big down hills trailing along behind me. Sometimes we push through new territory together, each helping the other keep going.

The tag-along bike is serving the same purpose that our baby sling served in Sage’s infancy. While Sage is close to me and can feel my presence she also gets to expirience life in all it’s glory, hard and exhilirating.

It was a lightbulb moment out on the bike trail, where I saw clearly that ‘attached parent’ is just who I am, not a list of things I needed to complete or adhere to… it is a reflection of me not an imposition on me. I hope attchment biking is not the last time I can see so clearly the connection my growing daughter still has to me, but instead just one in a series of opportunities to share Sage’s life with her.

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