Letters to the Editor
Bostonian in Brooklyn
Published Letters: 14 Editor's Choice: 3
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Guilt
[Read the article: Baby, we were born to breast-feed?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why is it such a big deal that women might be made to feel guilty about not breastfeeding? Why is it different from all the other stuff that we are supposed to feel guilty about like not exercising and allowing our children to eat jelly sandwiches.
Obviously not everyone can do what is ideal for themselves and their children every moment. Sometimes we have to be satisfied with giving ourselves B- or C+ grades. Why are we worred that women are so delicate that they can not handle factual information about health issues.
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Answering hypotheticals
[Read the article: The baby and the petri dish]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What is odd is his refusal (which he does not explain) to deal with hypothetical situations. Politicians frequently refuse to answer hypotiheticals - their reason is that the policy decisions will depend on many factors and the posed hypothetical does not take them all into account.
But moral philosophy is based on discussing hypothetical situations. We do not assume that the answer would vary depending on some specific information such as the size of the clinic or the social class of the two-year old. We also are not asking him to predict what he would do in a real fire (I personally would freeze and be totally useless) but are asking him what someone should do.
He should be pushed on the no answers to hypotheticals.
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Alice the Economist and the law of Compensatory Cash Flow
[Read the article: Our Alice]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]She may have been sensible (but not all the way to her toes) but she did contribute the Alice Trillin Law of Compensatory Cash Flow. I cannot get the quote exactly right but it was sort of like this.
Any luxery that you consider purchasing but then forgo releases a windfall cash flow that must be spent immediately or it will disappear.
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girl action
[Read the article: Live girl-on-girl action!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hi, I have witnessed both girl-kissies and boy-kissies at my daughters parties. The fact that they do this in front of me has two possible explanations.
1) I am sick, sick, sick and they know it.
2) They are being SILLY.
I favor the second explanation. I do not think that the behaviour merits more deep analysis than goldfish swallowing.
They also cuddle-puddle.
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Captain Cook and scurvy
[Read the article: The lazy man's guide to Alaska]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Captain Cook's crew only got scurvy when they did not do as they were ordered. Eat one pound of saurkraut per day.
This fact is one of the many I learned while helping my child with a school project. She just graduated and I am worried that I will not learn anything strange again - only things that I rationally went about finding out.
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Breast Picture
[Read the article: Hide that breast!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hi,
I, who nursed my two children for years and years (they could read), found the cover photo disturbing. It is hardly your usual madonna and child picture.
The fact that it shows an older infant who clearly knows what he (she) is doing rather than a newborn who is acting on pure instinct is surprising but fits with the subject matter of the article. What cannot be explained is why the child is getting milk from a disembodied hemisphere of flesh rather than from a woman. Did the mother detach her breast and go elsewhere?
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Homework: the different experiences of my two children.
[Read the article: Building a hate for learning]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Oh, I do so hope that her book has some effect.
I have two children, the first went to a private school that did not give homework until the seventh grade, the second went to the local publec school that seemed to be in a competition with other schools to see which could give the longest homework.
Evenings with the first were spent on family activities, games, reading, attending theater or meeting friends. He was effected by our world and picked up our interests, Evenings with the second consisted of utterly nothing but her three hours of homework which frequently was not finished until 11.
I, and other parents, complained frequently and were never taken seriously. They claimed that they only gave an hour and a half. It was my daughter's fault that it took her three hours.
My daughter could have had any parents who had been programmed to repeat "You have to keep at it." in five minute intervals. It was total drudgery including lots of repetitious math problems.
Life did not become fun until she entered Stuyvesant high school where she had less homework than in grade school.
The older one developed personal academic interests as a child, the younger did not until college. In college, they both did fine but the older one did better.
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non-weaners
[Read the article: The breast of times]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I probably could have weaned my baby at 8 months but kept nursing him since we were going on a three month trip. The pediatrician thought this was a fine idea.
When I got back and brought in my 11 month nursling, she said "Oh no, he has a memory now. You will NEVER be able to wean him."
Over the next few years I read the "weaning" section in every baby book in print. They all said "start by eliminating the meal that the baby is least interested in". This did not exist. He was equally interested in them all. It did not strike me as worth having a knock down fight about this especially since his absolute perfect health (no ear infections ever) was pleasant.
At four and a half he learned to read and found that he could not read aloud with a breast in his mouth so he stopped nursing. If he had learned to read silently we might not have been able to send him away to college. (Please don't react that this is a sick statement- I AM JOKING.)
My daughter was much less intense but, for years, wanted once a week nursings. I think it was her declaration of continued ownership.
Both kids seem to be normal adults, neither ever indicated that they have any memories of nursing. I think that it has a lot of effect on the health of the child and not so much of the psyche.