Christy Matte

I’m enjoying reading the Freelance Parent over at Sparkplugging. As a parent who cares for her children full time during the day and writes during an “alternative work day,” I appreciate hearing from other parenting writers. There are some special challenges involved. I rarely give out my business number because most PR people call during the day. I’m constantly trying to explain (over screaming kids) that I’ve got a home office and that it’s not technically open during the day. Luckily, it’s becoming more commmonplace and email is more of a standard. I often miss smaller family “events” (i.e. random dinners and gatherings not related to birthdays, anniversaries or holidays) because I need to work in the evenings and on weekends. I’m not sure our families fully understand, but they’ve been pretty good about it.

Anyway, one of the posts at Freelance Parent really made me think. Lorna Doone Brewer wrote about some discrimination she experienced while attending the BlogWorld Expo last week. She took her daughter, who is still breastfeeding, with her to the conference and ran into resistance from the venue and other bloggers. First off, I want to say, “Woo-hoo,” to her for sticking up for her right to be a breastfeeding mother and a professional writer. She is obviously sensitive to her daughter’s behavior and how it might impact other conference-goers. I guess I just don’t think that all parents are as thoughtful. So, where do you draw the line? If you do allow babies and even children into conferences intended for adults, who decides at what point a child is being disruptive if the parent does not? I don’t have an answer (how can you?), but I do think it’s about time we start having the conversation.