Know Your Rights

When embarking on a new adventure, be it a trip, a new job, having your first child, or even just trying a new recipe, it's usually wise to read up on where you're going, what's expected, what's involved, and so on.  As I've mentioned before, my fiance' and I are not as young as we look.  My OBGYN records say I'm of "advanced maternal age" - lovely, right?  Makes it sound like I'm in my eighties or something.  Anyway, both of us have several friends who have multiple children.  Our parents friends have grand kids, they know loads of people with kids and grand kids.  Point being, I don't care how old you are or if you've never been married. Whether you're in your twenties, thirties, or sixties, you had to have known people with children at some point in your life, which also means, you've heard things or picked up tidbits over the years on how it all works.  Well, dear readers, you should sit down.  I have managed to meet at least one person who has no clue whatsoever about child raising.  In fact, I think there may be more than one person in this boat.  The sad thing is, these people worked with children on a daily basis, which included working with their parents, too, again leading one to believe that said people would have the slightest clue about child rearing. These people are the inspiration for this post.

Back to the beginning, when you start something new, especially as big a deal as raising a child, you should know the rules.  Yes, there are rules, unsolicited advice, each and everyone's opinion, etc.  What I'm referring to here, however, is literally knowing the laws.  If you don't know your rights, unfortunately, people like the ones referred to above will unknowingly lead you in the wrong direction and possibly try to change how you planned to raise your child.  Thankfully, I was familiar enough about breastfeeding laws to stand up for myself and get things rolling in the right direction without wasting much time.  Here is the Louisiana Law and here is the Federal Law so you can also familiarize yourself.

My dilemma has a happy ending, thankfully.  Unfortunately, I spent an entire lunch break crying in my car and discussing other employment options with my fiance' because of the ignorance I experienced that day.  Pennsylvania has created laws to protect expectant mothers about people touching your belly.  They are the only state so far to pass such a law, but hopefully more follow suit.  Now, if we could just get all the people who think they're doctors that love to say things like, "doesn't look like you'll make it to your due date", to zip it or face consequences, that'd be amazing.