More TIME Magazine links roundup

Well, seeing as it’s officially Sunday, I’ve run out of time to read and comment on the rest of the articles discussing the TIME article in my Reader. Herewith I will simply paste them all and leave you to it, if you want to delve further:

• Mom: Breastfeeding Kid, 3, “Not for Everybody” (interview with Jamie Lynne Grumet) — Hulu/NBC Today Show
• In Defense of My Friend Jamie Lynne Grumet — TIME’s Breastfeeding Cover Girl — Shannon Bradley-Colleary at Huffington Post
• Whipping It Out for Toddlers — MamaLady
• A Critical Response to Time Magazine — The Accidental Natural Mama
• Thanks for nothing, TIME magazine — A Gift Universe
• Breastfeeding: A Private and Sacred Act? — Dulce de leche
• What’s More Offensive Than TIME’s Breastfeeding Cover Story? This PR Pitch… — The Feminist Breeder
• TIME Widening the Gap — The Adventures of Lactating Girl
• Time — the bee in your bonnet
• Musing on the Time Cover and Attachment Parenting — Musing Mommy
• links: the Time magazine controversy. — boho mama
• Five Truths About Attachment Parenting — The Variegated Life
• breastfeeding is not norm — Organic Baby Atlanta
• TIME: Ask the RIGHT questions! — MomsRising
• Six misconceptions about “extended” breastfeeding — The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog
• On Being Mom Enough — To Have The Conversation That TIME Started — Her Bad Mother
• Why I Am Loving Every Moment of the TIME Cover Debate — Jennifer James Online
• A Response to “The” Time Magazine Article — Our Muddy Boots
• Wouldn’t you rather be Mom AUTHENTIC? — Authentic Parenting
• I am enough: a Mother’s Day declaration — The Lone Home Ranger
• On contrived debates, strawmoms, and kyriarchy’s binds — Raising My Boychick
• Be The Best Mom That You Can Be — Mommy News & Views Blog
• urban attachment freak — grumbles and grunts
• Time Magazine Cover: Are You Mom Enough? Round-up of Responses — Real Child Development
• Yes, it’s for me — MammaCake.com

If I’ve missed any others, leave your links in the comments!

Yes, she’s 4, and yes, she’s still breastfeeding. « normal, like breathing →

Heartwarming story of giving a child the connection she needed through a difficult surgery and recovery. Another case study to show that breastfeeding past infancy is normal and beneficial.

This is what extended breastfeeding really looks like | Kate Wicker →

Pictorial response to show the connection of breastfeeding beyond infancy. As Kate points out, connection is what attachment parenting is all about.

WaldenMommy, Part Two:: The AP'd child speaks out →

An adult who was raised by attachment parents (who were previously also raised by attachment parents) talks about the effects of having breastfed into toddlerhood, having coslept with her parents, and having been worn in carriers. Hint: She’s not a freak. ;)

Mayim Bialik on CNN making perfect sense about the fact that attachment parenting is not in fact about how long you breastfeed or whether you cosleep, but that it’s about being responsive to our children. I really love her commonsense responses to this kerfuffle. It’s telling that the interviewer keeps insisting, “But how long are you going to breastfeed?” and Dr. Bialik (I like the sound of that) keeps deflecting it with the point she’s trying to make: that it doesn’t matter.

(Source: CNN)

"Women who breastfeed their children for three years are outliers, but they are not spectacles, and we shouldn’t hold them up as either Madonnas or freaks. Women who do not breastfeed are not monsters, and we should not condemn them, or really have any opinion about their decision at all."

Lisa Belkin: No. I Am Not Mom Enough.

where is the mommy-war for the motherless child? | Rage Against the Minivan →

As a huge adoption supporter, I really appreciate this article advocating for children who don’t have parents and need them.

I have to admit, I have reservations with the whole “first world problem” designation used to dismiss anyone who has a concern that’s valid but not as hierarchically earth-shattering as someone else’s concern. So where she says it’s not important how you feed your kids or whether you circumcise your son, I disagree. It is important. Things like that are not a test for whether you’re a good parent — I heartily agree with that. But it’s entirely acceptable to advocate for those issues as well as more far-reaching ones. If someone you knew had thyroid cancer, would you say, “First world problem! At least you didn’t die of dysentery when you were three”? It’s just not helpful to take that stance.

Ok, but back to the point of the article: My heart aches for the children in foster care, group homes, unstable households, and orphanages. I wish more people were willing to adopt, and I wish adoption were easier, less expensive, and more socially supported. I wish families were more socially supported, which would go a long way toward my wish that being an adoptive family were easier.

We are All Mom Enough | Tales of a Kitchen Witch →

Cutting through the drama and showing that we are ALL confident moms. Joni Rae invites us to spoof the infamous pose with our own kids, in whatever form you wish (breastfeeding or sippy cupping or no), and share it proudly.

Kroger Pulling Time Magazine From Registers | Code Name: Mama →

Apparently breastfeeding’s been normalized enough for me now that I did not see this one coming.

Dionna Ford: TIME Magazine Cover: Extended Breastfeeding Does Not Equal Extreme →

Dionna’s insightful response at HuffPost on the subject of breastfeeding past infancy (and I’m quoted):

Nursing past infancy is part of our healthy, loving relationship. As my friend and co-founder of Natural Parents Network, Lauren of Hobo Mama wrote: “You breastfeed day by day, not a year’s leap at a time. Nursing [my son] today, at 3-years-old, is different from breastfeeding him at 2-years-old by only one day, one moment. He didn’t become a gangly toddler overnight, so I had plenty of gradual time to adjust my vision of what a nursling looks like, each day.”

So you see, nursing past infancy simply does not feel extreme to us. Why does my son still nurse?

He nurses because I am his warm, safe place.

This is what works for us. You may do things differently. Neither of us is more extreme or better than the other.