This is more a rant and a vent than anything else, but I had to share because I knew you mamas would understand...
I rarely go to Waldenbooks, but this past weekend I was with a girlfriend and we stopped in to see what they had. Since she's pregnant I went to the "Family Care" section to see what they had available.
I was so shocked!
The section was chock full of BabyWise, SuperNanny, the entire "What To Expect" Crapology...and a slew of other titles along the lines of "lay down the law and don't let your kids rule your life"! It made me want to cry. There was ONE ENTIRE SHELF of just the "WTE When You're Expecting" and "WTE The First Year". Dr. Phil was also widely featured.
I told my friend which books to never, ever read (or maybe only read as comedy relief) and I searched for ANY breastfeeding support/natural birth books. The ONLY books I found were a single copy of The Breastfeeding Book of Answers and another of So That's What They're For!
I did discover that Jenny McCarthy has put out a "here's what pregnancy is REALLY like" book. *gag*
NO Dr. Sears.
NO Ina May Gaskin.
NO Penny Simkin.
NO Henci Goer.
NO Diana Korte.
It made me so profoundly sad. To think that pregnant women with no clue come into this store and this is what they think pregnancy and parenting is all about. I know that I thought the same thing, because when I was pregnant this was the first place I came to. My entire view was changed by reading Birthing From Within and The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth...thank goodness my doula loaned me these books because it opened up a whole new world for me and I read so much more as a result.
I am most definitely going to write a letter to the store and even stop in to talk with the manager. At the very least they should have the Sears series of books, and more than one copy of breastfeeding support books. I hope and pray that I can help make a difference because this is a travesty.
It's got me thinking, too, about the OBs in my town who give out the "What to Expect" book to their patients. I should write some letters to them, too. When I see my CNM in a few months I'm definitely going to have a talk with her.
The one thing I did that made me feel good is I took all the Ezzos and Ferbers and pushed them to the back of the stack and put the LLL book facing out on top of them.
- Jen
I rarely go to Waldenbooks, but this past weekend I was with a girlfriend and we stopped in to see what they had. Since she's pregnant I went to the "Family Care" section to see what they had available.
I was so shocked!
The section was chock full of BabyWise, SuperNanny, the entire "What To Expect" Crapology...and a slew of other titles along the lines of "lay down the law and don't let your kids rule your life"! It made me want to cry. There was ONE ENTIRE SHELF of just the "WTE When You're Expecting" and "WTE The First Year". Dr. Phil was also widely featured.
I told my friend which books to never, ever read (or maybe only read as comedy relief) and I searched for ANY breastfeeding support/natural birth books. The ONLY books I found were a single copy of The Breastfeeding Book of Answers and another of So That's What They're For!
I did discover that Jenny McCarthy has put out a "here's what pregnancy is REALLY like" book. *gag*
NO Dr. Sears.
NO Ina May Gaskin.
NO Penny Simkin.
NO Henci Goer.
NO Diana Korte.
It made me so profoundly sad. To think that pregnant women with no clue come into this store and this is what they think pregnancy and parenting is all about. I know that I thought the same thing, because when I was pregnant this was the first place I came to. My entire view was changed by reading Birthing From Within and The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth...thank goodness my doula loaned me these books because it opened up a whole new world for me and I read so much more as a result.
I am most definitely going to write a letter to the store and even stop in to talk with the manager. At the very least they should have the Sears series of books, and more than one copy of breastfeeding support books. I hope and pray that I can help make a difference because this is a travesty.
It's got me thinking, too, about the OBs in my town who give out the "What to Expect" book to their patients. I should write some letters to them, too. When I see my CNM in a few months I'm definitely going to have a talk with her.
The one thing I did that made me feel good is I took all the Ezzos and Ferbers and pushed them to the back of the stack and put the LLL book facing out on top of them.
- Jen
