I am back in college at 31, 2 kids, and I did the whole homebith (hypno and water) and extended nursing, co-sleeping, blahblahblah.
Now I am a Social Work major and in one of my classes today, we were discussing pregnancy and childbirth. This was tough, because the prof had no kids, is really kind of timid, and has little experience or knowledge about these matters. I spoke up many times, because the book slanted things (sort of expected it would) toward medicalized birth.
This is a class where 98% of the students are young, unfamiliar with PG and CB and it really is not even on their radar.
Now some of the students asked questions that showed genuine interest to learn about things and the prof deferred to me a bunch, so I tried to state things without being too biased, unless it was truly a subjective sort of thing, such as explaining why I chose a water birth or hypnobirth, etc. And then those things were posed as questions of opinion anyway.
Buuuut, not everyone was being open-minded and trying to see what the opinions are out there in the world. In fact, one chickie stated that her mother had her in the Dominican Republic and she had her in a clinic because it was too risky to have a baby at home and she didn't know why anyone would.
Another guy said, "Everyone KNOWS that it is so much safer to have a baby in the hospital, so it just doesn't make sense to have a baby at home."
The girl from the Dominican Republic, I admit, I kind of have it in for her. She is in my world because she embodies all the things about me that I can't stand, such as being too mouthy when there is no place for it, being hypocritical or inauthentic (she "hates people who don't recycle because you have to respect the earth" but she smokes), and challenging people on issues just to do so. So I know that I have her around to be in my face about what I need to work on to become the best me I can.
The guy, well, he seems like me 12 years ago. Not really educated about it because he just hasn't had reason to even think about it. He doesn't seem like he was taking the stance to really be a jackass, he just doesn't know.
After these things were said, I realized it was close to the end of class so I bit my lip and let the prof finish up.
But now I am feeling compelled to say something, but I wouldn't know what, and I am not even sure if I should, or if I should just drop the whole thing.
WWYD?
Now I am a Social Work major and in one of my classes today, we were discussing pregnancy and childbirth. This was tough, because the prof had no kids, is really kind of timid, and has little experience or knowledge about these matters. I spoke up many times, because the book slanted things (sort of expected it would) toward medicalized birth.
This is a class where 98% of the students are young, unfamiliar with PG and CB and it really is not even on their radar.
Now some of the students asked questions that showed genuine interest to learn about things and the prof deferred to me a bunch, so I tried to state things without being too biased, unless it was truly a subjective sort of thing, such as explaining why I chose a water birth or hypnobirth, etc. And then those things were posed as questions of opinion anyway.
Buuuut, not everyone was being open-minded and trying to see what the opinions are out there in the world. In fact, one chickie stated that her mother had her in the Dominican Republic and she had her in a clinic because it was too risky to have a baby at home and she didn't know why anyone would.
Another guy said, "Everyone KNOWS that it is so much safer to have a baby in the hospital, so it just doesn't make sense to have a baby at home."
The girl from the Dominican Republic, I admit, I kind of have it in for her. She is in my world because she embodies all the things about me that I can't stand, such as being too mouthy when there is no place for it, being hypocritical or inauthentic (she "hates people who don't recycle because you have to respect the earth" but she smokes), and challenging people on issues just to do so. So I know that I have her around to be in my face about what I need to work on to become the best me I can.
The guy, well, he seems like me 12 years ago. Not really educated about it because he just hasn't had reason to even think about it. He doesn't seem like he was taking the stance to really be a jackass, he just doesn't know.
After these things were said, I realized it was close to the end of class so I bit my lip and let the prof finish up.
But now I am feeling compelled to say something, but I wouldn't know what, and I am not even sure if I should, or if I should just drop the whole thing.
WWYD?
)
Apparently it relieved the tension and kind of opened things up for honest discussion. Maybe not everyone agreed with her in the end, but it was done with much less animosity.
