Thursday, December 15, 2011

On Mothers and Babies...a wee soap box rant.

Start here:
Children and Breastfeeding

Target Harasses Nursing Mother


Recently these articles have shown up in my Facebook feed and I can't help but grow incensed at the ignorance and rudeness with which American mothers are treated with when nursing in public.  What is so wrong about a woman baring her bosom to feed her baby?  It's normal.  Maybe that is where things went wrong in the first place, though.  America no longer perceives this action as normal.  They see it along the same lines as a stripper flashing a patron, that it is the same vulgar, disgusting act.  Breastfeeding in public couldn't be anything further from a stripper if it tried.  That's what breasts are for!  Feeding babies!

I think not enough parents are open with their children in teaching them these things.  I think that is where the problem lies.  Now in the case of the Target store, that's a really idiotic company policy and I don't think I'll ever shop there again, much less take my future children there.  That is utterly ridiculous.  I can't help but smile when I encounter a mother nursing her wee one in public.  It is so precious, so beautiful.  I admit that I'm never quite sure what to say, so I allow my smile to suffice.

I fully intend to carry my wee ones in a sling, to kiss them and sing to them and teach them the ways of this wonderful crazy world.  And I fully intend to breastfeed in public until the world gets over itself.  Or emigrate to Europe where more of the sensible people live.  Alright friends, someone help me off this soap box...


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