Can't We All Just Get Along?

A recent Boston Globe article sparked a furious debate about breast-feeding and parenting when it printed a story about women who nurse their children well beyond the recommended one-year mark -- and instead on and on for years.

In the aftermath, the radio airwaves burned with opinions of parents on every end of the spectrum. They seethed with sure-ness: it’s natural -- it’s vile -- it’s to each her own -- it’s abusive.

As for me, I don’t bother to take sides on this matter, maybe because my own attempts at nursing three kids were complicated at best, and maybe because honestly, how can I be riled by one family’s choice and expect them not to be riled by mine (aka: Cheezits for breakfast sometimes.)

But I will say this -- and any honest parent should be able to relate: parents are sometimes other parent’s worst enemies.

Recent dramas in this town, many of them splayed out in the pages of our local paper, have pitted parent against parent. Who’s right about the Charter School? Who was right about the lights at the Seaside Park? The nasty letters to the editor make one think we are a community of feuding rivals.

And maybe we are, but c’mon now. The difference between a debate and a fight is huge. Maybe we all need to attend (or at least support) more efforts like Marblehead’s Team Up lectures, because as parents in this community, our conflict resolution could use some work.

Opinions matter of course and vary to great degrees, but in the end, we all have the same goal (I hope): happy kids, a nice school for them to learn, a nice place for them to live, a decent place for them to play. No matter how divergent our opinions on other matters may be, this remains one that is unchangeable.

I will never suggest that “we all just get along” – the best part of living in a small town lies in the freedom that people have to complain about it -- but I remain inspired by the fact (a wish?) that we have a common ground: our kids, this town.

Say what you will about breastfeeding a child until six, about how your school should be run, or about how the parks should be lit, but remember this:

Your children are watching.