And then my stars aligned....

The Universe has thrown me a smile this week.

Out of the blue, a woman phoned me yesterday, having found my name on the La Leche League website. I'm not sure how she chose me out of 50 or 60 other women who represent the organization in Toronto. She said that she was from a company which represents large corporate clients and provides learning sessions for their employees. She went on to explain that at an upcoming session they would be exploring 'the nurturing and protection of human life' and would I be able to speak for 20-30 minutes about the role of breastfeeding as a form of nurturing. Would I?

This is a huge opportunity for me. So exciting!! I get to talk about mothering. I get to talk about how the natural biology of breastfeeding is best for the social, emotional and physical development of human infants. I get to talk about how, in a formula-feeding culture, there is a better way, a higher standard, an enlightened approach to raising our children.

It's funny that for the last several months I have been complaining about how I feel so limited by the LLL organization. I often feel like I can only talk about breastfeeding in the sense of 'how to', rather than talk to mothers about tapping into their instincts and teaching them how to be empathic parents. And now because of my involvement with LLL, I will have the opportunity to take the conversation to the next level and really explain the importance of trust and attachment in our relationships with our children.

So for the next couple weeks I will be using my blog to create my presentation. I already have a general outline in my mind, but I will have to wait to find out a few key details about the who will be in the audience. In particular, I am aware that the subject of breastfeeding is highly emotionally charged--there are likely to be women in the audience who chose to formula-feed, or who were told that they 'couldn't' breastfeed, or who even tried to breastfeed but were not successful. I don't want to raise their ire, but I also don't want to downplay how important breastfeeding is, not just as a way to nourish a baby, but as a fundamental part of the relationship between mother and baby.

I also have to add how excited I am that I am going to be paid for my presentation. Yippee!! This is exactly what I want to pursue as a new career: parenting coach. Imagine being paid to teach people how to be better attached to their kids. It could be the start of a revolution in parenting......