If you have been on the internet at all in the past 24 hours you have seen this cover of Time magazine and you have probably read an article, blog post or facebook discussion on it. It is everywhere and you can not avoid it. I tried but I have been sucked in. So here is MY $0.02 on this cover.
First thing that grabbed my attention was the “Are You Mom Enough?”. Really what kind of title is that. Who is to say if I am mom enough on anything. Once again I believe this article is going to feed into the mommy wars and make those who don’t breastfeed feel like utter shit. I am so fed up of the breast versus formula arguments. In fact I addressed it all in a post I wrote a while back called Parenting, is there really a right and wrong way?
To quickly address the age of the boy in the picture which has many people up in arms. Myself, I think once a child can walk up to you and clearly ask for your breast it is time to wean. HOWEVER that is MY opinion and holds no weight on what others decide to do when it comes to how long they will breastfeed their child. Not my business, unless your child is now in college.
Now here is my BIG ISSUE with this picture, one I find many are over looking. Bullying is a HUGE problem in our society and the internet never forgets. One day in the future classmates of this innocent precious little boy will come across this picture. They will print it out and they will tease the boy and possibly bully him.
His mother decided to make a stand in a big magazine and did not think about future repercussions for her son. THAT is my problem. Everything else I can overlook. However I feel sorry for this little boy in his future school years. Not because he is still being breastfed but because his mother made it very public and had him pose for a picture for time magazine.
Yes we all want breastfeeding to not be a big deal and 100% accepted in society. However boys will be boys and that will never change. Now I wonder, did she even think of how this will affect her son in school when his peers stumble upon it in the future?