This guy shares his worst nightmare- a mom nursing in public. There’s a little bit of a new twist though- the idea that breastfeeding creates entitled brats down the line, and that nursing mamas are comparable to guerrilla warriors. Ahh. Let me get this straight: I should provide my infant with substandard nutritional fare in order to teach the essential life lesson that my child is not superior or entitled? That’s all it takes?
What did this guy’s mama feed him? Because he’s sounding pretty entitled to me.
Here’s an excerpt– spelling errors are all his, baby:
the behavior of well-educated parents who want to impose their version of an enlightened society upon the rest of us, without regard to our sensibilities.
That sort of selfish, guerilla mentality is not just inconsiderate to those of us backward Americans who are not used to seeing babies suckling while we’re shopping for party supplies or dog food, it’s also unfair to the companies whose employees are only trying to do the right thing.
Now, if any business – be it retail chain, a local independent store or a car dealership – announces a policy explicitly allowing open breast-feeding then that’s their prerogative. But one also has to ponder how this type of adult-baby behavior will eventually affect the child.
No wonder there’s a legion of kids nowadays who have grown up thinking they’re extra-special, entitled and oh-so-superior; after all, it’s been imbedded into their id since they were fed mother’s milk.
The Lactivist reprinted a powerful essay presenting a paradigm shift from the argument about culture, to the basic, natural need of an infant to nurse. I highly recommend taking the time to read it. Here’s a small snippet, so I can end this post with a voice of reason:
The offended onlooker does not have any rights to be protected. The offended onlooker has a personal issue, a feeling of discomfort and unease, that requires handling. A cultural dissonance, that needs acknowledged,
responded to, engaged with and hopefully smoothed away. The nursing dyad has no such personal issue in this paradigm. The nursing dyad is not operating out of a cultural context. The nursing dyad has supreme importance and protection in this scenario.There is a simple truth here, that is so awesome and complete in its simplicity, that it’s in danger of being overlooked: breastfeeding an infant is not a lifestyle choice. It is not a cultural convention. It is not a personal statement. It is a biological imperative. It is our essential nature. It is an essential element of our species, and the continuation of it. It is a biological norm.
Thank-you, Morgan Gallagher, and the Lactivist for sharing it.