A number of years ago, between the time when mine were babies and
the time I became an LC, I was involved in one of those home sales
organizations.  When they held a rally/sales meeting for
representatives, the advance info stated very clearly "no children
allowed".  One woman did come with a nursing baby.  She got several
annoyed glances from the person leading the meeting, so I made it a
point to go to the mom and congratulate her for meeting the needs of
her baby.  At one point, the baby gave one very brief "wah" which
was immediately silenced, I assume by mom "pluggin him in".  Again,
angry glare from the leader.  Other than that, unless a person saw
the baby, they would have had no idea it was there.

I went up to the leader afterwards and commented on the fact that it
was nice to see it is possible to have a baby present without major
disruption, especially in light of the fact that one recuriting
angle they push is the fact that at-home moms can add to the family
income while still being there for their children.  The leader, in a
huff, said "But did you see how every head turned when the baby let
out that cry?  It made me lose the attention of the audience!"

I then pointed out that probably one reason so many heads turned was
the surprise that there was a baby there in the first place.  In
addition, at another point during the session, another participant
let out a very loud sneeze which also made heads turn.  In this
case, the speaker said "God bless you" and made a joke about the
material being nothing to sneeze at, bringing the attention of the
audience back to her.  Quite a contrast to the glare the mom got!
So whether or not the presence of a baby is disruptive depends in
part at least on how the leader handles it!

Winnie

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