Mom asserts her rights at the town pool
by Liz Fry
Courtesy The Compleat Mother
I visited our local parks and
recreation swimming pool with my two young sons and my nursing
six-month-old daughter. During this moms and tots time, my baby became
fussy and needed to nurse. I quickly ran to the change room and
retrieved my terry cover-up, then sat on the edge of the pool deck with
my legs dangling in the water and discreetly nursed my daughter.
The pool supervisor approached me and asked me to take my daughter into
the change room and nurse here there. When I asked why I should do this,
she replied that there was fear that I could be offending some of the
other patrons.
I refused!
I explained that both my daughter and I had a legal right to be there.
With this said, she quickly took back her words and scuttled away to her
office.
As a mother of five breastfed children, ages 11, 9, 5, 3, and 6 months,
it still annoys me when people take offense at this very natural and
beautiful way of nurturing your children. I complained to the
Commissioner of Parks and Recreation in Markham (Ontario), who
apologized on behalf of the town.
It seems that nursing on the pool deck is permitted. The offending
employee wasn't familiar with Markham's policy regarding
breastfeeding at the pool.
As a result of my letter, he as asked staff to document the
breastfeeding policy in a manual and apologized for my embarrassment and
discomfort. Hopefully, such incidents will never happen again. I am
pleased.
Liz Fry
Markham, Ontario
Canada
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Breastfeeding
Reading
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