When my first baby were born at home, the midwives counseled us about
time for ourselves. Since we had a many-months long relationship with
them, had just been through a very intimate experience with them and
trusted them, their opinions carried great deal of weight with us.
They left a letter on our front door--to friends and family,
explaining the importance of bonding and what visitors could do to be
helpful--including being very brief in their stay, bringing food,
helping out with siblings (applied with later births), etc. The
letter was signed by the midwives, so it took the pressure off of us.
All of the midwives in my community used this same letter and it was
very effective, although with my third, I went to e Blessingway about
6 hours after he was born--he was happy in his sling and I felt
fabulous.
As to the issue of boycotts--I agree that silent boycotts are
generally pretty ineffective. OTOH, living as ethically as possible
and treading as lightly as we can on our collective Mother is never a
wasted effort. And, as has been said before, it is a simple matter to
avoid most of the "illicit" products--just eat whole foods and you're
most of the way there. I do think we would have a much bigger impact
from a marketing perspective if we actively boycotted a particular
product, but I personally would rather avoid the whole lot.
Last year, my 13 yr old daughter and her homeschool literary club
wrote and performed a play about sweatshops. This was after they had
spent many months researching the connection between child slavery
and cheap chocolate, worker's rights and fair trade. None of this
was foreign to these kids whose parents have made similar purchasing
choices since before they were born. My daughter plans to be a
fashion designer and is currently a theater student at a high school
for the arts. One of the other girls is a writing major there. Those
are careers where such awareness is likely to have quite an impact. I
have to think that the consciousness of their parents has made a
difference in the issues they have chosen and acted upon. So, I
disagree with Betsy when she states that time spent on boycotts is
wasted--it may actually be very far-reaching. And, to say that ,
"If those who spend large amounts of time boycotting spent that time
helping out in the breastfeeding arena somewhere, I would expect a
whole lot more good would be done and far more would be accomplished
all around."
is kind of silly, since those us us writing about this are spending a
whole lot of time helping out in the breastfeeding arena. IMO,
nothing matters more than how we live every day, including our
purchasing choices.
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA
"
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