A tribute to Dr. Bill and Martha Sears

Von has been a reader of MommyLife and corresponded with me for quite a while - how long, Von? I posted something a while back that Martha Sears had sent me and Von asked - THE Martha Sears?

Yes, it is THE Martha Sears, wife of Dr. Bill and author with him of many books about raising children based on attachment parenting principles. Actually, Martha is a constant source of material here because I am on her email list and she sends a lot of interesting stuff :)

I met the Sears in 1995. I had just completed my first book, Small Beginnings and wrote to Dr. Sears to see if he would give me his endorsement. Because of his child rearing philosophy and the fact that he has eight children, including one with Down syndrome and one through adoption, I felt it was a natural fit.

He surprised me by writing not just an endorsement but a forward to my book. It arrived with a big ink splotch on it and a note pointing to the splotch, saying "Stephen leaves his mark."

That's how the Sears are. They are truly the real deal. Some time after that I was going to be in San Clemente for a writers' conference, and Martha graciously picked me up at the airport, took me home for dinner, and then drove me to the conference. I watched her play ball with Stephen and heard about how they were meeting the challenge of Bill's colon cancer by turning to more natural methods.

Dr. Bill has written endorsements of some of my other books too, even though their responsibility has increased tremendously. I will always be grateful to him for answering a letter a decade ago from a new writer asking for something that many people would have been too busy to give. But when he read my book, he liked it.

He is a humble man too. I remember when I met him that I said something about him being an expert, and he said, "No, I only have eight kids - you have ten" (two kids ago for me).

I'm just sharing this to give you a glimpse into two people that many, many conscientious parents have held as icons. Let me tell you, they deserve the respect that you have for them.

Which makes me very excited to announce this project - sparked by Von's email about Martha, in which she poured out her gratitude for all the Sears had done in her life to change the course of her parenting and her family.

I was so touched - and I knew the Sears would be too - to see how specifically and radically their work had impacted the next generation.

And so I asked Von to write her letter directly to the Sears, to include a picture and let me publish it here as the beginning of an ongoing bouquet of thanks to the Sears. If you would like to write to the Sears as well, please publish at your blog and link below or email your letter to me, include a picture and I will publish it here. They will be under the category Sears Tribute.

Won't Martha be surprised?

• 0
• Vote