Violence...

The topic i chose was violence, specifically violence in the home. This is something that i experienced as a young child that i knew was wrong, but did not know how greatly it affected me until later in my life. I was a very quiet, obedient child. I was very shy and had some trouble making friends. My parents divorced when i was extremely young due to abuse in the home, and unfortunately my mother continued to have abusive partners. I always hated my mother's boyfriends, even before things became violent. I never wanted anyone to ever be at the house, and didn't really realize why. This included anybody, male or female, and i didn't even want other children at my house. I really didn't want to interact with children at school either. This is how it affected me. I swore that when i became an adult i would never be with a man who was abusive. Unfortunately my first husband was abusive. I put up with it for a while. I hid it from others for as long as i could. I tried to tell myself he didn't mean it, and all the things you always hear people say. Then i looked at how my children were becoming. I thought they didn't know, but by the things they were acting out i realized they did know. As soon as my eyes were opened to the reality i was living i quickly left my husband and have moved on with my life. My children have unfortunately been affected, however it is no where near as severely as it could have been if i would have continued to stay in the abusive situation. There are many places that feel a husband has the right to keep his wife in line, and treat her whatever way that he sees fit. I thank God that i live in a place that offers a great deal of resources to the abused as long as they choose to seek the resources and get out of a bad situation. There are many people that will continue to endure the abuse because they feel they have no choice, there are some that will lose their life to their abusers, and children that see the abuse and are helpless to their situation. It is a sad circle, and i hope that others will realize that there is a way out.

Breastfeeding....

Breastfeeding is something that is very important to me, and i have strong feelings when it comes to mothers nursing their children. Although there are alternatives to breastfeeding, nursing is important to children in more than just nutritional ways. A bond is created between a mother and child when the child is nursed. Children that are nursed are always held when they are fed and this reduces the possibility of choking or other things that can happen when young children are left alone with a bottle. And Nursing is much more healthy for the young child with all of the benefits that breastfeeding offers.

In other countries, even third world countries breastfeeding infants is much more common than it is here in the United States. There are several reasons for this. Some reasons for this are that it has always been common practice and it is more widely accepted, in poor countries there are no available alternatives to nursing your own children, and when children are breastfed there is less chance of infection and disease.

I will use the information i have learned in order to encourage other mothers to breastfeed their young children, and give them the necessary information to know the benefits of breastfeeding. I will also let them know that there is a great deal of help offered to assist mothers with breastfeeding. While i was nursing my children i was given some information that caused me to not continue nursing my children that i later found out that was not correct. I would have liked to continue nursing my children and am sorry that i listened to the sources that i did. 

Some sources that were helpful while doing my research for this blog are:

http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1405

http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/

http://www.llli.org/

http://www.breastfeeding.com/

http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=4&tax_level=2&tax_subject=257&topic_id=1357

http://www.007b.com/public-breastfeeding-world.php

http://www.breastfeed.com/nursing-mothers-life/nursing-facts