To Be An Example, Part II

I have so many half-baked ideas in my mind about things to write about right now that I'm not certain I can avoid making a muddle of all of them. So I'll start with something I threatened to write about before: the other area in which I have felt that I needed to be an example.

Nursing in public.

I have mostly avoided this subject up until now because of it's sensitive nature and the fact that I am writing to a mixed audience. (This actually became a hot issue not long before Parker was born. Baby Talk magazine issued a controversial cover that pictured a nursing baby. They got all kinds of negative press for doing so, and several critics unjustifiably described the photo as pornography.)

After Parker was born I really had to fight to nurse him for physical reasons. Because of this, and because the right to nurse in public had become such a public issue, I felt that it was my duty as Parker's mother, and as a Christian, believe it or not, to demonstrate to others that it could be done, in public, with discretion. I wanted other mothers to know that if they needed to nurse in public it was alright to do so. And I did.

I know this (nursing at all, nursing publicly, nursing for more than a few months) isn't the right decision for every woman. There was a principle involved, and I personally felt that I had to take it on.

Of course as old as Parker is now, public nursing really is an impossibility. I will however share a story that occurred just before Christmas. Anna had invited me and Parker to join her for lunch on campus. School was pretty much out, exams were mostly over, so there were still people around, but not as many as you would typically find. It was almost time for me to leave to pick up Michael from work, we were on the quad, and Parker was READY for a nurse.

Guess what I did. I publicly and purposefully, in love of course, embarrassed my little sister. Right there on a park bench I plopped down and fed my baby. Mostly we went un-noticed. However, there was this one guy who walked by with hands thrust deep in pockets and eyes turned up to the sky. I said to Anna Grace, "That guy knows exactly what I'm doing."

"And he's determined not to see," she answered.

Note: This was on a college campus where people were most likely to be offended with the least excuse.