mardi 30 mars 2010

Mothering tips from Elisabeth Badinter


Interesting that I should read this news report so soon after my last post where I briefly talked about the subject of breastfeeding babies or not..

MOTHERS in the English-speaking world are under attack from the French for trying too hard.

Controversial French philosopher and leading feminist Elisabeth Badinter argues that mothers, including those in Australia, have become slaves to their children. Instead, she argues, they should be women first - and mothers second.

Mothers should ditch the pureed organic pumpkins, eco-friendly cloth nappies and breast-feeding and get their lives back, Badinter claims in her controversial new book, Le Conflit, La Femme et la Mère (The Conflict, the Woman and the Mother).

They should follow the lead of traditional French mamans, who feel no guilt about using powdered milk, jars of baby food and day care if they're so inclined, she claims in the French bestseller, which has already caused a storm in Britain and the US, the Herald Sun reported....

The story was reported last week by the UK Times:

...She advocates a return to the old French model, which involved whatever necessary — powdered milk, baby minders, nurseries, you name it — to prevent les enfants from taking over their mothers’ lives.

“We live 80 to 85 years in our industrialised countries, and children take up 20 to 25 years of that,” she says. “Staking your whole life on 20 years is a bad bet.”

Unsurprisingly, Badinter has drawn furious reactions from all those she blames for making motherhood a prohibitively daunting challenge — an unlikely coalition of ecologists, New Age feminists, paediatricians, conservative Christians and breastfeeding activists.

They have accused her of, among, other things, endangering the planet, serving the cause of sexism andsecretly seeking to boost Nestlé’s profits...

All I can say is, everyone has an opinion on the topic and in the end women will always have to deal with the judgements of other women about what are the 'right' and 'wrong' things to do but in the end it's still their own choice!

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