Now that I got your attention I can explain.
On Thursday in my dyad there was a mom in our class that comes in to help out during language arts class. She was there with her toddler who is the younger sibling of one of the students in the class room. The situation was this, the toddler was cranky and was running around the room not listening to his mother. The mother then scooped up the child and sat with him while she was writing with other students during a shared writing experience. At one point I looked over because I noticed that a few students around the room were distracted from their work. I realised at this point she was BREAST feeding her child while sitting 5 inches away from other students.
It is not the act of breast feeding that bothered me. It was the location. She should have in my opinion moved away from the students, go to another part of the room or in the hallway. I asked my teacher about this incident at the end of the day. She mentioned that she did feel it was inappropriate but that she thought the mother was just so used to the school and the act of breast feeding that she didn't even think it would be a distraction.
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I think I agree with your teacher. Yes it was inappropriate, and your teacher could have been more pro-active in asking her to step outside. But as a former milk-producer myself, I can see how sometimes you just don't necessarily think some actions through. Especially if they've become automatic actions like boob-feeding. Obviously this isn't her first kid, and I'm sure this isn't her first time around usin' the tit, so yea, alot of the "uncomfortableness" (is that a word?) that comes from whipping out the boob in front of strangers tends to disappear because it feels like such a natural act. Was she in the right? No, not really, especially in our culture, but I can understand to a degree how with something that has become habit/second nature, it can be hard to remember to take others into consideration.
ReplyDeleteYikes. What was this lady thinking? Regardless of how comfortable SHE feels, she needs to think about the people around her. Within a group of adults there would probably be mix feelings. Some would think, "yea why not?" while others would say, "there's a time and a place..." But, think about the students?? I remember a lot of elementary school, but I don't want to have to remember seeing my classmate's mom's boob! Yikes!
ReplyDeleteWhile I breast feed my children, this is not something I would have been comfortable doing.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, I have heard it argued, how is breast feeding different than bottle feeding, since it is a natural act. Of course then it goes: but it's a breast. Then: it's not a sexual object at that point but a form of nourishment. Bottle feeders think nothing of whipping out a bottle anytime anywhere, so why should a baby that nurses be denied?
This is a very old debate and one that I don't see being resolved anytime in the near future. But it has put a new twist on it.
hux has a very good point that when it is something so natural as nursing a child it there isn't even an awareness that it would offend anyone.
I think the breastfeeding mother was doing the right thing. She was battling against a backwards culture. Breastfeeding is important and it's important that we as a society embrace it, not be shocked by it. The kids in that class learned a valuable lesson from that mom:
ReplyDelete1.)toddlers need breast milk (the world health organization recommends it for at least 2 years. Michael Jordan did it until he was over 3 years old)
2.)breast feeding is okay in public