I'm the girl that:
- Always wears a skirt. "Does that girl even own a pair of pants!?!"
- Enjoys labor (yep, I absolutely LOVE childbirth...the natural, unmedicated type)
- Will home school my children and they won't be socially awkward
- Dreams of having a house full of children (8, 10, 12, lots of babies!)
- Has never and will never touch any form of contraception, yet I'm not constantly pregnant
- Won't give my babies a bottle or a pacifier, in fact I wouldn't even know how to prepare one!
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| Who can resist these pudgy cheeks?? |
Why do I not give my babies bottles or pacifiers? I spend nine continuous months with each of my children. All day, everyday, through sickness and tired joints, while they are safely guarded and growing within me. Some days I dream of allowing my husband to take over for just an hour, yet that is impossible. I like to think of infancy as a slow weaning process. Babies need milk to survive. I can provide that. Just because a child is no longer in my womb does not mean that they no longer need me for their survival. As a woman I am naturally equipped to take care of my child's every need. Sure, it's draining and I do enjoy that my husband is now able to hold the baby, but just because we are no longer physically connected doesn't mean that I am not a necessity in my child's life. When my baby is hungry, I am there. Always there. To strip a child from this natural weaning process breaks my heart.
Am I opposed to people who give their child a bottle? Of course not. There are reasons why a bottle is a helpful tool, but they are far too over used. To give a child a bottle immediately after birth without ever making an attempt to breastfeed, that's just a selfish choice. Our society has perverted the breast in such a way that women feel ashamed to feed their children. Those that do choose to breastfeed feel forced to hide their children under blankets, sit on a public toilet, or they risk being on the local news for "offending" someone. If my baby is hungry, I feed her. No need to stare or feel as though I am scandalizing the world. It is the introduction and common place of the bottle that has scandalized and stripped babies of the most important thing necessary; their mother.
1 comments:
So..a couple things stood out to me here:
~I would love to know exactly why you choose to wear skirts all the time, I recently discovered the variety of reasons behind many women's choice to avoid pants, and I'd love to know yours.
~Please remember that you are only semi-in-control of your children's social awkwardness. There are many personality traits, emotional issues, and levels of social developement that affect how socially awkward or not a person is. So you can try to socialize them properly, but even with all your work, they can grow up to struggle in society.
~I always worry when people begin to lock themselves into a niche, i.e. no bottles ever, because it implies being closed to adjusting to necesssity. I'm sure this isn't what you're doing, but it might do better to clarify.
...btw, I loved childbirth too. Of course, it was wicked short and easier than most people seem to have, but still. I really loved it.
Blessings,
Masha
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