We had a training session at my work yesterday. I'm a children's librarian at a public library, and this training session was on early literacy and how library programmes can help with early literacy. For some reason we started out by dividing into groups and each group being given a "typical scenario" that may arise in a preschool programme. One of the scenarios was this:
Okay, I'm not sure what this has to do with early literacy, but that was the scenario. I want to say that this wasn't the scenario that my group was given, unfortunately! Anyway, when the scenario was read out loud, I couldn't believe some of the responses! Bear in mind that this is a room of almost entirely women and, to do the jobs they're doing, they need to have a university degree (a few are "grandfathered" from the old days and don't have a degree), so for the most part this is an educated group.
The group who was discussing the scenario came up with approaching the woman, telling her people were complaining, and asking her to be more discreet. When the topic was opened for discussion, some other comments were:
"toss her a blanket"
"tell her to do that somewhere else"
"ask her to cover up"
"you don't want those dads to feel uncomfortable"
"I was a nursing mother, you can be discreet and still do that"
"she needs to be respectful of the dads"
Whoa, hang on a second! We live in a province that has a breastfeeding policy in place, written by our human rights commission, that you can read here. I was almost speechless! Two or three of us did speak up and say that we needed to tell the complaining people in the situation that she had the right to breastfeed , but most people were either silent, or arguing that she needs to be more discreet!
Anyway, they e-mailed around the scenarios with notes on the discussion today, and this was all that was written about this scenario:
So, now I'm worried that we've just enshrined asking breastfeeding mothers to be more discreet as part of our library policy or something! None of the managers present spoke up about this being a human rights issue in Nova Scotia or anyhing! The more I think about it the angrier I get. So one of my coworkers and I wrote emails to the Preschool Services Manager and the Cultural and Diversity Services Manager for the system, pointing out to them the province's human rights policy on breastfeeding, describing how absolutely horrified we were at the responses from some staff, and stating that we felt really strongly that the library needed to clarify for staff members what the position on breastfeeding has to be according to the law!
I still can't get over the comments from these people that I work with! The branch that I work at is right down town, in an area full of universities and hospitals, it wasn't my direct coworkers that were saying these things--we're in a branch where BF is pretty much the norm and even CD is almost mainstream. I guess I had thought that the whole library system felt that way.
Maybe there was more support in the room than I realised, but those people just kept quiet, I don't know. Only two or three people in the room knew that I was still nursing a 2.5 year old. I'm betting a few probably guessed though, by how upset I was getting.
I think I'm in shock a bit. I know this was just an imaginary scenario, but people were starting to tell NIP complaint stories from the branches they worked in and everything.
Alison
Quote:
| "You have received a few complaints about a mom who comes with a baby and older preschooler to Family Drop in. She usually uses this time to breast-feed the baby and is not at all worried about who sees what. Most of those who have complained are dads who feel uncomfortable around this mom’s lack of discretion. You want the program to be “family friendly” but don’t want the dads to stop coming either." |
The group who was discussing the scenario came up with approaching the woman, telling her people were complaining, and asking her to be more discreet. When the topic was opened for discussion, some other comments were:
"toss her a blanket"
"tell her to do that somewhere else"
"ask her to cover up"
"you don't want those dads to feel uncomfortable"
"I was a nursing mother, you can be discreet and still do that"
"she needs to be respectful of the dads"
Whoa, hang on a second! We live in a province that has a breastfeeding policy in place, written by our human rights commission, that you can read here. I was almost speechless! Two or three of us did speak up and say that we needed to tell the complaining people in the situation that she had the right to breastfeed , but most people were either silent, or arguing that she needs to be more discreet!
Anyway, they e-mailed around the scenarios with notes on the discussion today, and this was all that was written about this scenario:
Quote:
| •speak to mom in private - tell her that we support her desire to breast-feed, but it is making others in the program uncomfortable and request that she be more discreet when breast-feeding •make an announcement to the whole group that breast-feeding in welcome |
I still can't get over the comments from these people that I work with! The branch that I work at is right down town, in an area full of universities and hospitals, it wasn't my direct coworkers that were saying these things--we're in a branch where BF is pretty much the norm and even CD is almost mainstream. I guess I had thought that the whole library system felt that way.
Maybe there was more support in the room than I realised, but those people just kept quiet, I don't know. Only two or three people in the room knew that I was still nursing a 2.5 year old. I'm betting a few probably guessed though, by how upset I was getting.
I think I'm in shock a bit. I know this was just an imaginary scenario, but people were starting to tell NIP complaint stories from the branches they worked in and everything.
Alison
Ugh. My head would have exploded.
As another children's librarian, I feel your pain. I'm not terribly surprised though, by your colleagues' comments. Generally, many in the library realm that I encounter with those views are from an older generation than myself. I'm not sure about your library system, but IME the ones I've worked for are bastions of traditional, conformed thought. Good job on trying to educate them! That's about the only way you're going to be able to start changing their ideas.
:LOL 
Omg, I want one of those.
: I can't believe that was the response - I'm assuming that these are all people who would be aware of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms? Oh, and the provincial laws that are in place too. Poor you. I would be so offended to be treated like that at a library's 'Family Drop In'. What's family friendly about treating a nursing mother and her children like second class, obscene citizens?
