Mothering › Forums › Breastfeeding › Lactivism › Offensive baby card
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Offensive baby card  

post #1 of 98
6/14/05 at 10:26pm
Thread Starter 
I'm thinking about writing to Hallmark. I got a card in the mail the other day from a friend, it said:
Baby girls need many things...
Bottles, bibs, and teething rings
Soft teddy bears, big rocking chairs,
And lullabies a parent sings.

Okay, so why are bottles the first of the many things a baby needs? Actually, my baby girl doesn't need bottles at all. I could think of plenty of other things that could fit into the rhyme, even beginning with "B":
Booties
Blankets
Blessings and my favorite (which dd really DOES need):
Boobies!!

No really, I think this card is sick. I'd be mad at the friend who sent it, but honestly, I doubt she even read it, she saw cute pink card and sent it.
post #2 of 98
6/14/05 at 10:39pm
:

i can see why that would be annoying. babies need blankets, blessings and boobies before they need bottles.

write halmark, girl!
post #3 of 98
6/14/05 at 11:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by KoalaMommy
Baby girls need many things...
Bottles, bibs, and teething rings
Soft teddy bears, big rocking chairs,
And lullabies a parent sings.
Boy, I'm really a bad mommy; my kid hasn't had much use for any of the things mentioned except the lullabies.

Quote:
No really, I think this card is sick. I'd be mad at the friend who sent it, but honestly, I doubt she even read it, she saw cute pink card and sent it.
My brother-in-law (make that EX BIL) once gave my sister a Christmas card: Merry Christmas to a wonderful wife and mother. Did I mention they have no kids? Maybe he was using the other meaning of mother?

But really, don't be too hard on your friend. Even if she read the card and loved the words, not everybody understands the beauty of the breast. Just see if you can't subtly enlighten her. :
post #4 of 98
6/14/05 at 11:42pm
Sometimes people, like myself, don't read the card completely before sending it off.
post #5 of 98
6/14/05 at 11:56pm
If you look at many baby shower decorations most of it has bottles or pacifiers-drives me nuts. Cards are the same way. I always try to look for cards without those things and seriously-they aren't many sometimes to chose from!
I was totally excited when I found a set of beautifully drawn breastfeeding cards and snatched them up to use as baby cards. Only have 1 left though-must buy more!
But yes-letting Hallmark know is the only way to start change!
post #6 of 98
6/15/05 at 12:12am
"Baby girls need lots of things:
Mama's breasts, and baby slings
a father's heart that's full of mush
and a diaper to cover her little tush."

Okay, that was the best I could do off the top of my head. Am I hired?
post #7 of 98
6/15/05 at 12:29am
Aye, Cap'n. I love it. But not all of us even use diapers. Though, unlike bottles, diapers are not offensive.
post #8 of 98
6/15/05 at 12:35am
Quote:
Infant women don't need your material goods, capitalist pigs!
Mother's breast and a single large piece of fairly traded cloth will do for all of her needs!
Covering her tuchus is so bourgeois!
Rhyme is reactionary and greeting cards are a tool of the patriarchy! Smash the state!

This card is printed with non-GMO soy ink on artisanally home-crafted recycled paper, 50% post-consumer content 50% self-renewing hemp fiber.
(If it is not obvious, I am joking.)
post #9 of 98
6/15/05 at 12:37am
Thread Starter 
oooooh

Organic cloth diapers for her tush!!! :LOL
post #10 of 98
6/15/05 at 12:38am
Wow, Captain. You're QUICK!

And I love this one, too!
post #11 of 98
6/15/05 at 12:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by captain optimism
"Baby girls need lots of things:
Mama's breasts, and baby slings
a father's heart that's full of mush
and a diaper to cover her little tush."

Okay, that was the best I could do off the top of my head. Am I hired?

I like it

JM
post #12 of 98
6/15/05 at 4:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by captain optimism
(If it is not obvious, I am joking.)
That's TOO great!

Yeah, I wouldn't be pissed at the friend. We got several similar cards, and I doubt the folks sending them meant anything at all by it.

But it wouldn't kill Hallmark to make sweet cards with illustrations of nursing moms on them, ya know?

It's kind of like getting diaper-pin-festooned decorations... it's more a holdout from baby rearing practices of years ago. I'm a CDer, and even I don't have any diaper pins!
post #13 of 98
6/15/05 at 12:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Past_VNE
Aye, Cap'n. I love it. But not all of us even use diapers.
So do you EC 100%? I always though ECers diapered the baby and then whipped it off to potty, because you might not necessarily catch every one. That's pretty cool if you don't need any dipes at all!

Back on topic... I don't think we can expect much from Hallmark, honestly. They're like the epitomy of mainstream suburbanite lifestyle, kwim? A quick walk around your nearest Hallmark store will show you this is true. :LOL

I wonder what some of the smaller, independant card manufacturers have to offer.
post #14 of 98
6/15/05 at 2:29pm
Some of us BFing mamas used bottles...for breastmilk.

Bottles do not always equal formula, and to think that they do could also be misconstrued as "sick."
post #15 of 98
6/15/05 at 2:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by captain optimism
Infant women don't need your material goods, capitalist pigs!
Mother's breast and a single large piece of fairly traded cloth will do for all of her needs!
Covering her tuchus is so bourgeois!
Rhyme is reactionary and greeting cards are a tool of the patriarchy! Smash the state!

This card is printed with non-GMO soy ink on artisanally home-crafted recycled paper, 50% post-consumer content 50% self-renewing hemp fiber.

(If it is not obvious, I am joking.)


:LOL
post #16 of 98
6/15/05 at 2:44pm
OK, LMAO at Captain Optimism's poem... :LOL

I also just wanted to mention that some breastfed babies, like my own, do use bottles... to be fed breastmilk by dad while mom is at work...

that being said, it'd be nice to see some nice breastfeeding card sometime!
post #17 of 98
6/15/05 at 2:46pm
cap'n~you should write cards!! i'd buy 'em!!! very witty!! love it
post #18 of 98
6/15/05 at 3:17pm
KirstenMary - I was thinking the same thing as you said! I plan to breastfeed.. but sometimes some of that boob food might end up in a bottle if momma needs to get out for a bit or if dh wants to have some feeding/bonding time?! So, true.. bottles don't always equal the devil that is formula!
post #19 of 98
6/15/05 at 6:44pm
I don't think anybody's arguing that bottles are evil and should never be used- just that bottles shouldn't be the FIRST thing that comes to mind, or be used so frequently to decorate "baby" cards, wrapping paper, etc.
post #20 of 98
6/15/05 at 6:49pm
Two thoughts:

I want cards that end in "Smash the state!" for all occasions!

and

I'm guessing the wrapping paper folks are going to be a little anxious about the prospect of decorating their product with pictures of squirting mama nipples. Although it would be sweet if they did.
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Lactivism
This thread is locked  
Mothering › Forums › Breastfeeding › Lactivism › Offensive baby card