BREAST IS BEST
Instapundit has a pointer to an interesting article about a controversial ad campaign promoting breastfeeding. The ads take the offensive against the formula companies, listing all of the negative consequences of not nursing. After all, breastfeeding is the way Nature (or Nature’s God) designed it.
[T]he ads feature catchy slogans meant to become memorable such as “Breastfeed: It’s too important not to,” and “Babies are born to be breastfed.” Some of the ads also use humor to make their points, including TV spots showing a pregnant woman participating in roller derby and riding a mechanical bull. These absurdist images are used to make the point that, just as no woman would take those sorts of risks while pregnant, mothers of infants should avoid the quantifiable risks to their babies’ health that come with not breastfeeding.
“As I understood it, this was to be the first national advertising campaign that focused on the risks of not breastfeeding as opposed to the benefits of choosing to breastfeed,” explains Dr. Audrey Naylor, a San Diego pediatrician and Executive Director of Wellstart International, as well as a member of the AAP’s Breastfeeding Professional Section, and a past consultant to the World Health Organization on infant nutrition issues. “This would definitely mark a significant change in the way this issue would be presented to the general public. It’s a change to promote breastfeeding as a public health issue rather than simply as a personal parenting choice.”
I think there is a lesson here for homeschoolers. For far too long we have been defensive about our educational choices. If someone mentions the “S”-word, we point out that our kids are in lots of activities. If someone mentions testing, we cite the Rudner study. Yada, yada, yada.
We need to follow the example of the lactation consultants. Homeschooling is natural. G-schools are the unnatural product of a bunch of early 20th century socialists. And the educrats are in the same position as the formula manufacturers- pushers of an inferior product.
Admittedly, our task may be even more difficult than the pro-nursing folks’. After all, nursing is free and homeschooling is anything but. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. Let’s put the educrats on the defensive for a change.
One Response to “BREAST IS BEST”
 Comment by ModernMother Tamra December 27th, 2003 at 2:21 am |
Amen Sistah! |