Social leper

I had to pop into town a few days ago for a few bits and when lunchtime came I headed for the food-hall in the shopping centre.


This would not be my first choice of places to eat and drink (food is not great and coffee is like engine oil) but I had Perfectionist with me and also Smiler, in his buggy. I knew there would be plenty of room for manoeuvre in the food hall. There's nothing worse than battling your way through a cafe with a baby in a buggy and a fractious toddler,dragging chairs caught in buggy wheels along with you whilst desperately looking for a table out of the way......all the while feeling like a total inconvenience to others due to the inevitable pissy looks.


We eventually got organised with Perfectionist happy with her seat and Smiler smiling in a not-too-food-encrusted highchair.
Perfectionist tucked in to her dry bread roll and apple juice(a very fussy eater with a very limited diet) and I fed Smiler his meal of organic veggy mush I had brought along with us. He soon polished this off (a good eater, unlike his sister) so then it was time for me to feed him.


I quickly scanned the area. There were several tables with women sat around,a couple with a young girl,a middle aged couple and a man of about 35 in a suit and bad tie,talking on his mobile. He looked like the sort who would 'phone up and say "Hi,just a quick call to touch base" and then possibly "laters" on finishing the conversation. Two expressions that really irritate me.



Hmmm, I thought........Well I am tucked away in the corner so hopefully I'm not going to upset anyone. It makes me mad that I'm made to feel this way when breastfeeding my child. We are supposed to be a modern,progressive,liberal society and we are in many ways....too much in some........ but I have all too often found public attitude towards breastfeeding intolerant and ignorant, leaving me feeling self-conscious and uncomfortable when doing so.



Please don't miss-understand me. I am not one of those happy-clappy,smug,breast-is-always-best women who lob their lactating bosoms out on the table in public for all to see with a "look-at-me-aren't-I-a-perfect-Mother" expression on her face. I am in fact a person small in stature with a small,unobtrusive chest (which I couldn't lob anywhere even if I tried) and if I do feed in public you would have to have a really good gawp to realise I'm feeding and not just holding my baby!.......Back to the food hall.......



Smiler fed for about 5 minutes then I planted him back in his buggy and started to clean Perfectionist up a bit. The woman of the middle aged couple who was just returning to her table with more tea, came to our table and said to me "It's so nice to see a Mum getting her priorities right" She went on to ask the usual questions about kids then we said goodbye.



I left the food hall with a smile on my face. I felt proud instead of apologetic, no longer like a social leper but a Mum doing the best I can for my kids.



I imagine many people would see the events of my visit to town that day as trivial and insignificant but for me they were a really important,refreshing change.



I wonder if the Woman realised how much she brightened my day?


I do hope so.