Time magazine is going to start a mommy war. And they’re just getting in on what the blogs have already been brewing for a long, long time now. The subject of extended breastfeeding and attachment parenting. Along with Dr. William Sears.
I love the image. A beautiful mom nursing her 3-year-old son.
I hate what it’s going to bring out — the claws in the moms who want to attack anything about breastfeeding or attachment parenting. Mainly because people don’t even need to read the article to get ticked off. It says “Are You Mom Enough?” And any mother who didn’t breastfeed or not breastfeed as long as the mom on the cover is going to feel as if breastfeeders think a woman isn’t “mom enough” if she didn’t or doesn’t do the same. Wow, Time. Way to make moms doing the best they can feel terrible. We don’t need a magazine to feel the guilt we all feel — even attachment parents. The title on the cover should make everyone angry. It’s meant to infuriate. To enrage. And it angers me.
The kid is 3 by the way though he looks older.
And that, my friends, is what sells magazines. But that is not a message that serves us well as mothers — mothers who should be helping each other, not hating on each other.
This is going to perpetuate the great divide between moms of different parenting styles. I breastfed my twins when they could walk up and ask for it but that doesn’t make me a better mom than someone who did not. I would never think that. Being the best mom you can be means different things for each woman, and we should all respect that. But still, this image will just bring out the guilt that some moms feels and those moms may automatically attack extended breastfeeders, those who are attachment parents, and everything those parents believe in. And that’s wrong. Just as wrong as the headline.
And I’m feeling all of this, every bit of it, with only seeing the cover. It’s that image. Those words. And what people make of that image that wedges a greater wall between parents with different beliefs. At a time when so many people are preaching tolerance of so many things, shouldn’t the basic principles of natural parenting be on that list as well?
Let’s not hate. Let’s all just be the best parents we can be.
What do you think of the Time cover?
Twitter: Hannabert2011
says:
I think that the title of the article is inflammatory. Mothering is hard, no matter if you follow Baby Wise, if you are more of an AP follower, or if you made the ultimate gift of placing your child in the arms of an adoptive family.
As far as the picture goes, my son (15mths) like to catch a drink while standing on our bed and me standing next to the bed (certainly makes getting ready difficult).
Mothers need to support each other not attack each other. We can all learn from each other without judging each other for choices that we have made when it comes to breastfeeding – especially extended breastfeeding or tandem nursing.
Hannah recently posted..Cranky Nights and Mornings
Twitter: erikarobin
says:
I love the notion, hate the picture. I know that it’s supposed to be inflammatory so that it will attract more readers to it. Shocking sells, we all know that. Sadly,the number of people who will make a snap judgment based on the photo alone far outnumbers that of the people who will actually read the the article and take something from it.
In general, it’s going to be a fail.
Erika recently posted..Trial by Esthetics – The Skin of a Princess on the Body of a Troll
It’s funny to me that I’ve seen this cover posted all over the place, but no one even comments on the article. I haven’t read it (although I’m curious to). I think you’re absolutely right that it’s just a cry for attention to stir up controversy and sell more magazines. Ahh American journalism at its finest. When you have nothing to say, sensationalize!
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