Can anyone recommend good books on attachment, please?

[Italiangreyhound]

Can anyone recommend good books on attachment, please? I have got a couple of books on adoption generally that people recommended but I am not a big reader and it takes me ages to get through a book, and so I would like something simple and engaging to read, please!

Not sure if you mean attachment parenting, or attachment in terms of development. If you want practical info and ideas for the first, Dr's Sears The Baby Book covers the first two years. He is generally big on attachment parenting and I found his books really easy to read. But I suspect this isn't what you're after...

Thanks choco I mean attachment as in issues children may have who are coming to adoption and maybe issues I might have in attaching to an adopted child. Thanks.

You could try the Attachment Handbook for Fostering and Adoption - it's more of a text book but not really written that way, if you see what I mean. It breaks attachment into different domains and looks at each of these for each age group eg 0-2, 2-5, school age, adolescent and includes tasks or activities for carers/adopted parents to try that build on each domain.

I'm very new to the adoption process (and to MN) in that I'm awaiting a date for prep group but this book makes sense for me and is worth a look if you can get it cheaply.

I found all of these books invaluable:

What every parent needs to know: Margot Sunderland

Secure Base: John Bowlby

Why Love Matters: Sue Gerhardt

Attaching in Adoption: Deborah D. Gray

you will get a useful book list on your prep course if its anything like mine and probably wnough information on attachment to keep you going a while. The EMK handbook on adoption is quite useful over a number of years but probably not at the start. www.amazon.com/Adoption-Parenting-Creating-Building-Connections/dp/0972624457 the focus is on internationally adopted children but I think the discussions are mostly relevant to many adoptions

www.amazon.com/Adoption-Parenting-Creating-Building-Connections/dp/0972624457

Thanks all.

I'd recommend Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections by Pertman, McLeod and MacRae and especially Real Parents Real Children by Holly van Gulden. Also Caroline Archers Parenting the Child that hurts; from tiddlers to toddlers (and then her next book too). Archer's has the 'advantage' of being British rather than American so is sometimes more relevant. My eldest had serious attachment difficulties and I found all of these books very helpful. DD2 is more anxious in her attachment (DD1 was RAD) and the books were also very helpful for me in understanding her.

Thanks so much adoptmama.

I definitely think Real Parents, Real Children is a good read. I also like Margot Sunderland's book 'What Every Parent Needs to Know', her books are more science-y (I also like the little books she writes for children about grief, self esteem etc, really helped DD2 with grieving for her mum).

This isn't a book that explains attachment in great detail, but it's a parenting book designed to be used with children who have attachment problems - 'Beyond Consequences, Logic and Control' (Bryan Post and Heather Forbes) has definitely been among the most helpful books i have ever read, and i highly reccomend it. It's changed the way I parent (over time, it's hard to put into practice) and has really helped with DD2 in particular

By the way - try not to get overwhelmed with books, unless you're a voracious reader who really wants to read as much as possible. Reading is great, but it's easy to read so much, it gets a bit confusing, and easy to forget where you read something you thought was useful. I've read a lot of books in 16 years or so, but now I've only got a few ones that have proved really helpful with the children i ended up with

Thanks lilka - wonderful.