Heritage Classic baby dilemma

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/09/2016 (3295 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The news as of late has been filled with vitriol of a particularly high level. One event in particular — a young Manitoba couple not wanting to pay hundreds of dollars to take their breastfeeding baby to a hockey game — was so heinous it made people across the country foam at the mouth.

Shalyn Meady and Clifford Anderson purchased two tickets for the 2016 NHL Heritage Classic and the accompanying Edmonton Oilers/Winnipeg Jets alumni game for $800. They didn’t buy a ticket for their son William, who is six months old and is still being breastfed, largely because he wasn’t going to sit. It’s not something he can do.

Reaction to the news was swift, with all the usual arguments trotted out. Why for goodness sake can’t they just stay home? Why is it everyone else’s problem they have a baby? Why don’t they feed it from a bottle? Why don’t they get a babysitter? Why in God’s name would we want to have a baby anywhere near us unless there is a very good reason?

Based on the mainstream and social-media pushback, we know most parents in the westernized world sat at home when their children were little. They never went anywhere; they all suffered in silence.

For the childless portion of the population — well, thank goodness they were smart enough to never have children, thus inconveniencing themselves and everyone around them with a screaming child. What good could possibly come from trying to make it easier for young parents, particularly breastfeeding mothers, to connect with the outside world while navigating the oft-emotional post-partum minefield? It’s not like there have been any incidents of mothers struggling with intense depression in the months after childbirth due to feelings of isolation. We all deal with the struggle to connect. Why should we make it any easier now?

We need to send the clear message to young parents we are not willing to make any concessions for them, despite the fact they are raising the next generation of Canadians. It’s not like this country has a history of helping or protecting people when they are most vulnerable or when they are most in need.

Let’s be serious. We are a developed country where, at the end of the day, the idea of meritocracy and independence is cherished above all else. My problems are not your problems and vice versa. Organizations and corporations should be entitled to make as much money as they possibly can at every given opportunity — even if certain policies are so ludicrous as to be laughable. It’s the capitalist way.

It’s true other companies with interests in making as much money as possible, such as WestJet or Air Canada, allow children under two years of age to sit on a parent’s lap free of charge. Perhaps that policy is all well and good within an environment that is essentially a metal tube hurtling through the air at 30,000 feet, but this is the Heritage Classic. Winnipeg hockey fans have been waiting such a long time for this to arrive and the safety of every beer-swilling sports fan being put in jeopardy by a baby is simply too chilling to dwell on.

The argument about breastfeeding? Give me a break. It’s so sickening that feminists have got such a firm hold on things that now, women can whip their breasts out whenever they want. It doesn’t matter that some babies don’t take bottles or study after study suggests there are real benefits to attachment parenting.

That’s not our problem. This is a culture based on how we have always done things. The public sphere, where important things such as business and sports events and government and the economy reside, should not intermix with what is private — that being, what goes on inside the home.

Babies and their nursing mothers (and their emasculated fathers) need to stay at home, out of sight, until such time they are fit to re-enter society. And if they want out, they stop embarrassing themselves and pay $400 for the privilege. It’s the Canadian way.

Dez Wengrowich is a former broadcaster who has returned to university to study sociology.