Althouse: "Our 21 month old is fascinated by the photos of parents and babies in The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding."

May 14, 2016

"Our 21 month old is fascinated by the photos of parents and babies in The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding."

"It got me thinking that although he's got over 50 story and picture books, they nearly all feature animals as protagonists. Can you recommend some books featuring realistic everyday life with toddlers as the main characters?... Bonus points for any depiction of breastfeeding!"

18 comments:

MadisonMan said...: So obviously a post from someone about a first kid, when parents think their kid's obsession is specific. In reality toddlers obsess about anything and everything all the time; it's called curiosity, and if the parent reacts to it, it's a vicious circle.

Rather than feeding this specific curiosity, the parents should be supplementing the curiosity with other things to investigate.

Odds that the question was written by the mother, not the father: More than 50%.; 5/14/16, 8:09 AM
MayBee said...: Somehow, breastfeeding has become a spectator sport with expectations for admiration and praise.; 5/14/16, 8:29 AM
buwaya said...: I suspect that mama is the obsessive in this case.; 5/14/16, 8:30 AM
Sydney said...: I recommend the gerund books by Shirley Hughes- "Giving," "Bouncing," "Helping," "Hiding," etc. No breastfeeding title, sorry, but they're great for a 21 month old who likes to look at pictures and they introduce simple words. Great way to get them reading early.; 5/14/16, 8:40 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I thought it was funny that the parent assumed the child's main focus was not the breast.

But I can't imagine a publisher putting out a book for babies that's just about breasts, from the point of view of the baby. That would seem wrong... from the point of view of the people who buy books (i.e., not babies).

Also, it's weird they way we adults think the thing children are most interested in is animals. When you're a little kid, it's animals, animals, animals. Stuffed animals. Animal books. Noah's Ark. What does the cow say? Buy me a puppy. Buy me a kitty. And on and on and on. Why the obsession? Why isn't it more about humanity?; 5/14/16, 8:56 AM
Paddy O said...: I have toddlers. Both who love books. There are a huge amount of books that include people. If you don't own any, there's a place called the library where you can browse a selection of books.

There are a lot of children's books out there.

Also, kids are fascinated by animals. They're around people all the time. Home, park, store, parties. All occupied by people. Toddlers get their people quota in real life.

Animals are unique and different. That's what fascinates toddlers.

Sheesh, I'm fascinated by animals still. I don't think the interest in animals is toddler specific.; 5/14/16, 9:19 AM
tim maguire said...: I think part of the reason children love animals so much is animals are as powerless in the human's world as children are. And children, even very young children, can offer protection to animals. It makes them important, places them above their usual role in the family. (Just as sociopaths usually get their start torturing animals, more empathetic kds get their start helping animals).; 5/14/16, 9:24 AM
Sydney said...: The closest book I can think of to an imagined toddler view of life is "Everyone Poops" by Taro Gomi. It was very popular amongst young parents when my kids were toddlers, though I never cared for it. Didn't read it to my kids. If you believe the conventional wisdom of psychological clap-trap toddler's are fascinated by bodily functions. I don't think that's true, necessarily. They're fascinated by everything in the world. I don't think they would necessarily be drawn to books about breast feeding or pooping.; 5/14/16, 9:29 AM
madAsHell said...: The child is 21 months old, and still sucking tit?
This is how axe murderers are made.; 5/14/16, 9:31 AM
buwaya said...: Daughter was mad for animals (that's why we have cats; I was weak, daughters have powers beyond human ken).
Boys however - trains, planes and cars. Animals strictly secondary.; 5/14/16, 9:40 AM
Fernandinande said...: Perhaps books with babies suckling from animal tits, or the inverse, would keep everyone happy as clams.; 5/14/16, 10:13 AM
Wince said...: Ann Althouse said...
I thought it was funny that the parent assumed the child's main focus was not the breast.

Even I clicked the link to the story hoping I'd see a tit.; 5/14/16, 10:24 AM
Gahrie said...: Just buy him a copy of Playboy; 5/14/16, 10:59 AM
Jane the Actuary said...: This is why children's books feature anthropomorphic animals: because they you don't have to deal with race. Is the publisher publishing enough books with nonwhite main characters? Are those main characters sufficiently non-stereotyped? In a book with lots of characters, are the proportions right? Are the nonwhite characters unjustly secondary characters rather than main characters? And if you get everything right from a PC point of view, will enough white parents buy the books, or do they then see it as a "special interest" book, not actually something their child will enjoy?

So you draw your book with bears or raccoons, or a zoo-ful of animals to sidestep the issue entirely.

As it is, there are far too many "preachy" books (about being nice, accepting diversity, etc.), and poetry-type books that kids are supposed to like, compared to picture books with nice, simple storylines.; 5/14/16, 11:06 AM
buwaya said...: Kids books were full of animals long before anyone cared about race. We had a full set of Beatrix Potter, which we dutifully read to the kids sitting on our laps.
We were all Anglophiles.; 5/14/16, 11:12 AM
YoungHegelian said...: When some years later, his frat brothers ask him the inevitable question: "Hey, Bill, are you a leg, ass, or boob man?" take a wild guess as to what he's going to say.

As ye bend the twig, so grows the tree....; 5/14/16, 11:33 AM
Henry said...: I didn't click through. Did Bob Woodward's books come up?; 5/14/16, 12:02 PM
Zach said...: If only there were some way to find pictures of breasts on the internet.; 5/16/16, 12:07 AM