I could boycott Chick-fil-A for what a manager there did this week- criticized a mother for breastfeeding her five month old baby in the play area. I want to even go so far as to boycott Knoxville, TN since that is where the incident took place. But really it happened completely because of the opinion of an individual. It had nothing to do with the corporation, or the city (that my husband happens to be from and we visit often).

Yes, I wish making a mother feel ostracized and unwelcome about breastfeeding her child had never happened, but hopefully it will continue the conversations within the company and get people talking. I can only hope good will come from this.

Being a mother of small children is hard enough as it is. To wonder if it’s OK to breastfeed in a public place should not be on our minds AT ALL. Though it is. I’ve been fortunate enough that the times I’ve worried about what others were thinking, they have taken a moment to tell me, “Great job, mama.”

I have some friends who have been encouraging of my frequent and public and extended breastfeeding, but most just don’t say anything. More like they don’t notice, or maybe it’s just a non-issue. Maybe for those who know me well assume I’m 100% confident in my baby feeding choice, knowing how outspoken I am about it. But I really would love some encouragement.

So, in the “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” mindset, every single time one of my friends has an obviously upset baby, one who clearly wants to nurse, I say, “feed her!” “Feed him!” I encourage it to the extreme. Maybe I go overboard. Sometimes I do this to perfect strangers who seem to be assessing the situation when they say “he wants to nurse”…Maybe I do it subconsciously to balance out those less informed who ask breastfeeding moms to stop, or who say that breastfeeding is gross. (Wait, what decade is this?) I’m not sure.

But for whatever reason, this is one area I am extremely passionate about. I was breastfed until I could ask for it, (a taboo to some!) and I thank my mother wholeheartedly for going against the grain and not worrying about the opinion of others in the seventies.

SO as I often have to remind myself, instead of sitting around and getting angry about something that is happening in our world, what can I do about it? What am I going to do today to be the change I wish to see???