Whole Foods Boycott?

I am going to assume you don't spend as much time as I do reading blogs written by various moms and/or parenting groups. As such, you are probably blissfully unaware of the boycott many of them are staging against Whole Foods. You're probably better for it. I wish I didn't know because learning of the boycott just makes me mad. To start off, here's the information straight from the facebook page set up to organize it all:

Whole Foods Market National Nurse-In
Plan of Action

Our purpose is to convince Whole Foods Market to support the healthy and natural act of breastfeeding within their establishments by providing a nondiscriminatory environment for families who choose to breastfeed.

A national nurse-in has been planned for Saturday, August 20 at 2 p.m. (Pacific), 3 p.m. (Mountain), 4 p.m. (Central), and 5 p.m. (Eastern) in protest of discrimination against breastfeeding at Whole Foods Market.

Whether or not you plan to attend the nurse-in, we encourage you to take action in any or all of the following ways:

Share these links with your friends and social networks
Whole Baby Foods Blog
http://wholebabyfoods.blog​spot.com/

Whole Foods Market Discriminates Against Breastfeeding
http://wholebabyfoods.blog​spot.com/2011/07/june-17th​-2011.html

Responses from Whole Foods and Next Steps
http://wholebabyfoods.blog​spot.com/2011/07/responses​-from-whole-foods-market-a​nd.html

Whole Foods Market National Nurse-In FB Page
https://www.facebook.com/p​ages/Whole-Foods-Market-Na​tional-Nurse-In/1909458942​95719?sk=wall

Here's a discussion on the Whole Foods Trolley Square FB page
https://www.facebook.com/t​opic.php?uid=1018623832254​55&topic=22

Boycott Whole Foods
Stop shopping at Whole Foods until they have adopted an official company policy affirming and accommodating the rights of breastfeeding women in their stores.

Contact Whole Foods
1. Let them know that you are disappointed with how they handled the situation and with their defensive response.

2. Tell them that you and all of your friends are boycotting until they have a global company policy that affirms and accommodates the right to breastfeed anywhere in their store, regardless of whether state law requires it or not.

3. Tell them how much money you used to spend on average, so they know what they are losing.

4. Tell them of your plan to participate in the nurse-in.

5. Explain why you believe this is an important issue, and why you got involved. Make it personal.

You can send an email through their website
http://www.wholefoodsmarke​t.com/company/service.php

ALSO, call and write (snail mail) your local store and speak to the manager.

Store Finder: http://www.wholefoodsmarke​t.com/company/service.php

Contact Utah Legislators
Let your representatives know that some businesses cannot be trusted to do what is right, and it has therefore become necessary to pass a law that affirms " a mother may breastfeed her child in any location, public or private, except the private home or residence of another, where the mother and the child are otherwise authorized to be present."

http://www.utah.gov/govern​ment/

Governor's Office
350 State Capitol Building, Suite E220
Salt Lake City, UT, 84114
Phone: (801) 538-1000

Now, here's my take on it all. If you read the account of the event that took place to start this all, I think the mom in question is completely overreacting. A customer was offended by seeing this lady's boob while she was breastfeeding her child so the customer complained to management. This puts management in an awkward position. On one hand, the lady does have a right to breastfeed her child there. On the other hand, the last thing management wants is another customer being uncomfortable. They were put in a position where they were guaranteed to upset at least one of the customers shopping in their store; the mom or the offended customer. So, management asked the mom if she wouldn't mind moving to another location. They didn't force her to move, they didn't tell her she had to leave, they merely asked her to go elsewhere and suggested locations. Most likely they suggested the cafe area, the same place an adult would sit to eat their meal at. Could management have handled the situation with more tact? Possibly. I'm willing to bet that the story, as told by the mom, is written with a bias though so I'm taking it as such.

As a food establishment, the store has a "No shirt, no shoes, no service" policy. Part of that is for comfort of other shoppers, part of it is for sanitary reasons and part of it is for safety. For the mom to insist she was mistreated and was appalled by it is absurd. Not everyone wants to see your boob hanging out. There is absolutely no reason why she couldn't move to the cafe area to sit down and feed her child. Heck, I don't breastfeed and I still usually move to a place I can sit down to feed David simply because it's a lot easier than carrying him around a store with a bottle.

I was reading the comments on all the above links and one person expressed what I'm trying to say perfectly: "There's no reason that she couldn't have put a blanket over her breast and solved the problem. Going slightly out of your way to help avoid conflict with others is part of being a decent person. I wear deodorant as a courtesy to others, even though it's my right to smell like a circus monkey. The store didn't tell her to stop, they asked her to cover up or move to a more private location. As a private business, that shows more tact, kindness, and consideration than she was showing the other patrons. Breastfeeding is good. Breastfeeding discreetly when in public is better, because it shows manners and tact."

I love the analogy with deodorant! I fully support breastfeeding and I'm glad that women have the right to do so openly. But, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask a mom to be considerate of other people.

The even larger issue here is that they are calling for a boycott of Whole Foods as an entire company. That is ludicrous! The mom had an issue with the manager at this particular store. It's not a widespread issue. I know I've seen moms breastfeeding at numerous Whole Food locations around me with nary a concern from any fellow customers or employees. To boycott my local store when they have done nothing wrong makes no sense to me. Heck, one of the stores near me holds monthly Le Leche League meetings. I know they don't have a problem with breastfeeding in any way, shape or form. I am willing to bet that every corporation that employs thousands of people is going to have employees of various viewpoints. I am also willing to bet that many of those employees will have viewpoints different from mine. Does that mean I should boycott every large corporation?

It just doesn't make sense to me.

Of course, when I tried to express my opinion that I thought this nationwide boycott was out of line, I was told, in no uncertain terms, that my opinions are irrelevant because I'm not a breastfeeder. I often wonder if these extremist lactivists (as they call themselves) realize that they are shooting themselves in the foot. I have every intention of attempting to breastfeed my next child and hoping it goes better than the last time; that I won't have all the same medical issues working against me next time. However, there is a small part of me that considers not attempting breastfeeding just because I don't want to ever be mistakenly affiliated with the extremist lactivists. I'd rather feed my child the evil carcinogen (according to extremist lactivists) known as formula.

Another year older

Today is my birthday. My last year in my 20's. I won't be one of those women who pretends to be 29 forever though. I can promise you that. I will gladly embrace 30 a year from now. A birthday is a thing to be celebrated for sure. I was never much for pomp and circumstance but now I've seen the other side. I faced the prospect of not having any more birthdays to celebrate and it was terrifying. I've seen people near and dear to me taken well before their time and it's a constant reminder to live each and every day. Anyone who knows me has heard me quote Jonathan Larson's 'Rent' numerous times but I'm going to do it again. "No day but today." I try my hardest to live every day to its fullest. I watch my son grow and discover new things each day and it brings tears to my eyes. Happy tears of course. If you've never seen a child's curiosity and wonderment as they explore, I suggest you find a baby you can borrow for a few hours (with permission of course). It's amazing.

I have always said that there were a couple things I wanted to accomplish by the time I turned 30. I wanted to have at least one child and I wanted to be married. I got the kid thing covered and two months from now I will have the husband part covered too. Never, in my wildest dreams, would I have guessed my life would take the turns and lead down the paths it has but I couldn't be happier for it.

I'm incredibly blessed by a wonderful group of people around me. That alone makes celebrating another year on this earth a wonderful thing. Happy birthday to me.

Car Seat Safety

When it comes to almost all parenting issues, I say to each their own. I've said that numerous times on facebook and in various blogs I keep. As long as the kid is safe, loved and well cared for, I don't care how you go about it. However, I am very adamant about car seat safety. It goes with keeping your child safe.

I have first hand experience in what can happen if someone is improperly restrained in a vehicle. I have seen the grim outcome more times than I'd care to remember. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the American Academy of Pediatrics both recommend rear facing for as long as possible. As of right now, the law is to rear face until over 1 year AND over 20lbs in every state. In the near future that law will probably change as the laws generally follow whatever the AAP recommends. The fear of a ticket shouldn't be what makes you keep rear facing though. The fact that there is a very good chance your kid will suffer irreparable spinal damage, if not death, from as much as a 20mph accident should be reason enough. Keep your kids safe people, it's your duty as a parent. There are no excuses for not following the minimum legal requirements of 1yr and 20lbs.

Acceptance

I have had the premise for this post bantering about in my head for weeks, months probably. Trying to find time to sit down uninterrupted and then gather my thoughts into coherent sentences is like trying to herd cats though. I have a serious appreciation for my fellow parent friends that are bloggers. I really don't know how they do it. That being said, I hope I am able to put my thoughts into words coherently here but if I fail, please don't hold it against me. Anyone who's ever had a teething infant living with them knows my current level of sanity.

Peruse any parenting forum and you will see mothers identifying themselves by a bunch of "stats". For example, I could say that I'm a babywearing, cloth diapering, formula feeding, pro-vaccination, non-circumcising mother. While this seems nice in theory, a good way to find like minded moms, in reality it drives me batty. It drives me batty because a good majority of these moms have an all or nothing attitude. You must follow their way or else be shunned. I see fellow babywearing moms scoff at people using a stroller. I hear cloth diapering moms shun people who use disposables because obviously those people hate the environment. By feeding my child formula instead of breastmilk AND vaccinating him on the AAP recommended schedule, I'm obviously trying to kill him. I won't even get started on the circumcision debate amongst parents.

As long as you are caring for your child to the best of your abilities and offering them a warm, safe bed at night and food in their bellies, I could care less where you stand on any of the above issues. I believe in baby wearing and cloth diapering but if you want to use a stroller and disposables, all the more power to you. I am 100% in support of breastfeeding but I couldn't myself so I had to formula feed. I think both are perfectly acceptable options and women should choose whatever works best for their family. I don't understand the people who refuse to vaccinate their children. I've read a lot of research and tried really hard to understand their stance but I just don't. However, if you don't want to vaccinate and you have a doctor willing to go along with you, so be it. I was completely on the fence about circumcision. I didn't really see a reason to have it done but I left the choice up to Brad. I figured he was more qualified to make a decision on our son's penis than I was. Brad decided to not have him circumcised and I supported that choice.

Any one of these issues can cause an all out war on many a forum though. I'm talking knock-down, drag-out, name calling, horribleness. I don't understand why parents are like this, usually mothers. Why they have to be so adamant that their way is the one and only way. The best way. Anything else is going to cause your child to have all sorts of issues. Why can't we all be a little more accepting? I watched the documentary "Babies" yesterday. To be more accurate, I watched it three times since it was keeping David happy and that made me happy. In that movie you see mothers from other countries doing things drastically differently than would ever be done here in the USA. In fact, some of the things the mothers did or allowed the babies to do would be considered illegal here in the USA. But, they just did what is normal for their culture. My point being that things are done differently all over the world so why can't things be done differently by women here? Why must everyone do things a certain way in order to be a "proper" parent?

I guess what it boils down to is how open minded you are. I have always considered myself rather accepting of others even if they are different from me in any way. I guess that translates to my parenting ideas too.

New?

I decided I didn't have enough neglected blogs so I'm making another. I'm not entirely sure yet what I'm going to use this particular blog for. There are links to the side for my other blogs. One that is in extreme need of some updating (cancer one) and one that I've used sporadically over many years (livejournal). This post is mainly just a placeholder and an FYI for anyone who stumbles across this blog.