Beginning Researcher

I am beginning my journey as a researcher.  The idea of this is quite frightening.  I have never been one for research, but I have found through this journey that I am missing out on powerful information.  I have chosen to research how play in school classrooms is being under utilized. My experience with play in Kindergarten has been very positive, however I can see that there is a shift coming.  With the higher expectations of our students with the Common Core standards we must cling tightly to play.  It will be very easy to let it slip into the category of "there just isn't enough time". I also feel that many students come to us lacking their social development and need play in order to practice valuable character traits and cooperation skills.  Also I would like to find out if there is a correlation between lower socioeconomic background students and the importance of play for them to be successful.  I think that if we really think about it's importance then we can convenience the power at be that it is worth fighting to keep.  It's benefits far out way the cost of time.

I have found that completing the simulation charts has really helped me to gain understanding of how to read and use research.  I think that the hardest part is activating my vocabulary, because I haven't used some of those words in a long time. :) With practice research won't be so scary. 

Does anyone know of some good resources for play research?  I am looking to prove that even though we must follow the Common Core Standards we can make it work.  We as educators can find a way to still keep play, but be accountable to our standards.  

I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else is going to be researching. 

Week 8-

International Contact Learning and Class Closing

So after making contact with my international contact, I feel that Australia is seeing some of the same pressures that we are seeing in America.  The one thing that I think they are possibly doing a little better at is making sure that play isn’t just stripped away from our children.  They also seem to making an effort to include different types of learning. 

The first consequence of international learning is that we aren’t the only ones going through some of these changes of accountability and assessment.  Many countries seem to be feeling the same pains.  I also think that we have so much to learn from other countries about how they are making these changes and what they are doing to support their families.  We all seem to have some of the same issues and with ideas from each other we can think of creative ways to solve these problems. 

The second consequence of international learning is that I have found our profession is in great danger in our world.  We have to take a minute and think about what is the most important aspect of our jobs.  The CHILDREN!!!! Somewhere along the way we have forgotten what we were passionate about and why we started this journey.  We have to learn that we must stop those who are push down curriculum and policies.  We can use any means necessary to help us.  Economics, medical research, and the pure politics of it can all be on our side if we just stand up and say NO, this isn’t what is best for us.  We need accountability but not at the cost of our children’s livelihoods. 

The last thing that I have learned is that we have more power than we realize just in terms of what is at our fingertips.  We live in an age of mass technology.  We fight that so much sometimes, but instead of fighting it let us use it to make a change.  Once things go viral they begin to take off at a running pace.  We need to shine a spot light on this issue and make sure that we aren’t blown out.  We can use technology to make it possible.  All we need is the ever present constant story on blogs, news sights, and any other means of advertising.  We can make a change we just need to be vigilant. 

Finally, my goal for the profession and international awareness is to stay connected and continue to make more contacts.  I think that the power of linking in with others who share those same beliefs is the one thing that our field needs.  We need to find a way to stand together and fight.  I really truly mean fight for our children’s future.  If we don’t pretty soon we will have completely lost any chance of being able to recover the damages we have done. 

Thanks everyone for being so helpful and just amazing colleagues.

Final International Contatct

This week we were asked to make contact with our international conversation partners and discuss the questions listed below.  I found them to be very interesting.  

 

 What issues regarding quality and early childhood professionals are being discussed where you live and work?

The biggest issues are the introduction of 2 major reforms (discussed in our last email).  These are the National Quality Framework and The Early Years Learning Framework.  Changes bought about by the NQF are welcome - for example a new 1:4 ratio for children birth to 24 months and steps to ensure trained staff in early childhood settings. From 1 January all services will also begin to be assessed against the new National Quality Standard, so centres are very busy getting their heads around the new requirements and working towards them as a team.

Another issue that is never far away is the worrying push down effect of the pressure for more academic programs in early childhood settings.  Parents want the best for their children, and if they read in the media alarmist reports that children are arriving at school ill-equipped then they push for more formalised literacy and numeracy programs which is a threat to play based learning and goes against all we know about how children best learn and develop. 

I also see a lot going on with outdoor learning environments.  People seem a lot more aware that outdoor play is more than just blowing off steam and are really working to create stimulating, natural outdoor spaces for children.

 What opportunities and/or requirements for professional development exist?

A lot of professional development at the moment centres around the NQF and the EYLF.  I have been on courses to familiarise myself with both of these, as have several other staff members.  On top of that our administration will pay for 2 additional courses of our own choosing throughout the year.  We also have internal staff development which centres very much around the progressive approach to education.  As one of only two progressive schools in Sydney it is difficult to find courses or like minded people in this area.

We have 2 days per year where we take turns doing a swap at the other progressive preschool, so that we can find inspiration and motivation in another centre with a similar approach.

I'd love the opportunity to network more with other centres, or to have centre tours where we can all be inspired what each other is doing.  Unfortunately this doesn't happen, and you can get quite isolated in your own centre.  That is why I started blogging - I started hunting around on the internet for sites that would give me an insight into other centres and then decided to start one of my own.
What are some of your professional goals?  What are some of your professional hopes, dreams, and challenges?

Hmmm, now you've got me!  You've made me think that I sadly lack in the goal making area!  I would love to do a masters in early childhood education, but none of the courses interest me.  If there was something on outdoor learning or progressive education I would be there in a flash.  I hope to continue learning more through my connections in the blogosphere that will help us to develop an outstanding outdoor learning space. 

I'm at the centre I want to stay in forever now.  It is my dream centre because there is such an emphasis on relationships and unstructured play and we also use our wonderful bushland environment in a way I've never experienced at other centres.  I would love to write about creating outdoor learning spaces and/or being a bush preschool. 

Blog Resources Week 6

This week we were asked to research a new area of our organizations website. I have been researching the website http://www.zerotothree.org/. I searched all over the place for where links outside of the organizations information.  I wasn’t successful at finding any of those options.  I did find a very interesting section though.  Under the About Us tab on the website, then under funded projects, under parenting resources, under podcasts.  This organization has secured funding to a very interesting option for parents.  They have a number of podcasts by much respected Early Childhood specialists available, called Little Kids, Big Questions. 
 

I found this to be a very interesting option on this site.  I listened to a podcast with Alison Gopnik whom we have heard in our courses.  I think this is a wonderful option to have available for parents to be able to learn great information that is research based. Plus the information that they discuss is done in a way that is easy to understand and explained so that a lay person will understand. 
While surfing this site I was able to find a little information on equity.  There were a few links to articles about how to make things equitable and how it is important to have a program that is equitable. 
 

This week I really continued to grow my passion for having play incorporated into the classroom.  I think that it is so easy to be pressured into cutting this in our schools.  While listening to Alison Gopnik I just felt validated because it seems that in schools we are forgetting the things that are so very important because we are being pressured from the top down to perform at a curtain pace and level.  I know that the pendulum always swings back in education, but I think that instead of having a swinging pendulum we need something more like a balance scale.  We need to focus on being balanced between academics and the rest of the child’s education.   There is more to our lives than the MAP test and our students need to able to understand and apply these skills. 

International Contact Introduction and... So much more!

Who and I and What do I do?

I'm Jenny Kable, an Early Childhood Teacher in Sydney Australia.  I graduated from Macquarie University with a Bachelor of Early Childhood in 1998 which enables me to teach children in the 0-8 age range.

Throughout university I worked part-time as a child care assistant in a Long Day Care centre in the city and when I graduated I became the teacher in the Toddler room of a different Long Day Care Centre.  Several years later I took the big step of opening my own long day care centre in an inner city suburb of Sydney with a friend I went to university with.  I was a teacher / director / owner up until I had my first child, when having a family and running my own business was all too much to handle.

I am currently working in my dream postion.  I teach part time at a small progressive preschool called Kinma, which is a part of a school community from playgroup (0-3) preschool (3-5) and primary (5-12).  The progressive approach to education fits really well with early childhood education, and having the committment to the approach behind us from the school we are fully supported in offerring a play based program with a free flow indoor / outdoor program.  You can find out more about the program here on our website. 

Part of Kinma's committment to progressive education means that our class sizes are kept smaller than the average Sydney preschool, and we have more staff - and more qualified staff.  We have 25 3-5 year olds per day, from  9am to 3pm Monday to Friday staffed by 3 early childhood trained teachers (one of whom is our Director), with a relief child care worker from 1230 -3 to cover our lunch hours

There are a range of different models of early education and care services in New South Wales. Most of these services are licensed by Community Services NSW. Children’s services can be:

• centre-based services such as preschools, long day care and occasional care;
• home-based services such as family day care or in-home care;
• mobile children’s services; and
• specific services for children from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.
• 
  

The main difference between preschools and long day care centres are hours of operation.  Preschools traditionally operate during school terms only and from 9-3.  Long Day Care Centres operate up to 50 weeks per year, and the hours are usually 7 to 6pm.  They tend to cater more for families where both parents are working.

Preschools
These services are primarily for children in the two years before they commence full-time schooling. Children generally may attend a number of days per week. Most services operate between 9am–3pm during school terms only. Some preschools offer extended hours, which consists of the preschool program plus additional care before and after the program; for example, from 8am–9am or 3pm–4pm. Some preschools are run from specific dedicated centres, while others operate out of church buildings or community halls. Some preschools are mobile preschools which come to specific towns or suburbs on set days and provide preschool in often isolated communities.
Long Day Care Centres
Long day care centres (also known as childcare centres) are primarily children from birth–to–5 year olds, and are provided in a centre-based environment, usually by a mix of qualified and other staff. Long day care centres generally open for at least eight hours per day and run for 48 weeks a year.
Long day care centres also provide educational programs. Some long day care centres use the word kindergarten or preschool in their names so sometimes it is confusing to identify what sort of service a centre is, particularly as long day care centres are a mix of not-for-profit and for profit operators. The easiest way to tell if a centre is a preschool or a long day care centre is by the number of hours they operate and the number of weeks open per year. Generally, preschool hours are shorter.

Issues relating to excellence and equity:
It is an exciting time of change in early childhood education in Australia, with 2 new national schemes in place to ensure quality and uniformity across states in early childhood settings.
1.  Being, Belonging, Becoming - Early Years Learning Framework
Was endorsed by the Council of Australia Governments (COAG) in July 2009. It is the first early years learning framework to be nationally endorsed for use by educators in a range of early childhood settings.   We were a little freaked before it came out, worried that it would be very outcomes based with emphasis on skills etc but instead it is beautifully child centred and play based.  It actually meshes very well with our progressive approach.  The biggest change for us is linking our documentation on individual children back to the areas in the EYLF document.  You can find the document and info http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/eylfplp/
2.  National Quality Framework

The National Quality Framework aims to raise quality and drive continuous improvement and consistency in education and care services through:

• a national legislative framework
• a National Quality Standard
• a national quality rating and assessment process
• a new national body called the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority.

The National Quality Framework took effect on 1 January 2012 with key requirements being phased in overtime. Requirements such as qualification, educator-to-child ratios and other key staffing arrangements will be phased in between 2012 and 2020.
Previously,  quality standards across early childhood education and care services varied across Australia.
The National Quality Framework aims to raise the quality of education and care across Australian services by introducing a National Quality Standard - this is a standard that all services will have to work to. Other changes include increasing educator to child ratio's, introducing qualification requirements and a national assessment and rating process.
These changes will provide families with information on the quality of care to help them make informed choices about which service will best meet their needs.

National Quality Standard

The National Quality Standard is divided into seven Quality Areas:

1. Educational program and practice
2. Children's health and safety
3. Physical environment
4. Staffing arrangements
5. Relationships with children
6. Collaborative partnerships with families and communities
7. Leadership and service management.

The National Quality Standard aims to promote:

• the safety, health and wellbeing of children
• a focus on achieving outcomes for children through high-quality educational programs
• families' understanding of what distinguishes a quality service.

Assessments for this process start mid this year, so centres are working towards it madly.

There is a link to it here http://www.gowrievictoria.org.au/News/NationalQualityFramework/tabid/127/language/en-AU/Default.aspx

We are working towards the NQF each staff meeting by looking at the requirements and seeing what we need to do to meet them.  So far so good - the only problem is that like most government things you end up drowning in paperwork.  Lots of what they require are already happeneing but you need to document it so they have evidence which can be a pain in the neck when you are alreay up to your ears in paper work!

I am so happy to have found this person to collaborate with.  I found this weeks information very helpful and interesting.  

Week 4

This week while exploring the site Zero to Three, http://www.zerotothree.org/ I found a brand new section, Little Kids, Big Questions.  This is a podcast series that they have posted to their website.  This series address several great issues facing raising children in our ever changing world.  Parents really and truly need all the different types of resources as possible.
 

This site has several articles and also evidence under the Behavior and Development section of the website that talks about the brain and how it works.  It mentions that the first three years are a period of incredible growth in all areas for the development.
 

This site also provides links regarding what states and your community are doing.  The tab Public Policy lists several different types of programs and links to home websites that can provide more information for you and your parents.  I learned there are many different options. 

Poverty Observation

I was very disappointed to find that after many weeks and hundreds of emails I can’t seem to get anybody to respond. Sadly I have had to do the alternative assignment.
I choose to listen to the podcast with TJ Skalski she is the Principal of the Mother Earth Charter School, in Alberta, Canada.
http://ccie-media.s3.amazonaws.com/podcasts/WFR_07_TJSkalski.mp3 It is the only school that has an indigenous focus.  She is a proud first nation woman. She had a calling to come to this school. It was a very thoughtful decision to take this position.  There was a lot of chaos at this job, there is a lot of turnover in her district.  The vision at this school is reinvesting in the kids.  The culture and language are on the forefront of this school.  She believes these are a must in order for us to help our students to be successful. What is stopping these students from being successful?  They are missing many of the foundational needs to help them become inspired.  This school is about empowering and encouraging students to make the right choices.
I thought this was very interesting because she helped us to explore differences between Canada and the US.  It seemed that they have a much deeper respect for each other as people and for making things work. 

Zero To Three

Zero to Three

Last week I chose to explore the organization Zero to Three. http://www.zerotothree.org/ 

I thought this would benefit both myself professionally and my family.  This organization is dedicated to providing a place that informs, trains, and supports professionals, policymakers, and parents.  Their mission is to promote the health and development of infants and toddlers.  They do this by providing a monthly newsletter and many pages of research and support for the positive influences that need to be present in a child's life. While exploring the website this week I found many of the trends that we have discussed.  It was very hard to choose just one trend to explore.  

Good Health

I choose to look at what the site offered for families on good health and nutrition for their families.  There were many different articles for what to do with childhood obesity to how to feed children in the 21st century.  I was surprised to see so many different resources available to families and professionals. It is really important for our families that they are aware of the differences in healthy nutrition today.  http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/health-nutrition/professional-resources-on.html

I think that it is so amazing that we live in a world with so many resources right at our figure tips.  

Starting Up

We are starting a new class this week.  I am very interesting in learning about the trends in early childhood education.  I have learned so much already and I am excited to jump in and learn more.  Can't wait to see who everyone else gets connected with from other countries.  I am also excited to learn more from the organizations in our country that can help us to change the reality. 

My Supports

In my life I have many supports that keep me going each day.  First I have my family, Allen my husband, my children, and my father-in-law.  Also I am very close to my mother, brothers, sister, and my grandmother.  These people on a daily basis provide me with the supportive atmosphere to continue to try even in the worst of times.  This past year especially, we have really needed each other.  We have had 2 deaths in the family, cancer diagnoses, and job changes. Of course this is the year I decided to go back to school. Without these supports I wouldn’t be able to survive all of these struggles. They give encouraging words, wisdom, and affection as ways to support me. 

Second, I also have great friends.  I have been blessed to have friends that I have been through a lot with and they have been there for me during times of great struggle. My friends support me in much the same way that my family supports me.  If I need someone to talk to or vent with they are there to listen to me.  They help me to work through my problems.  When I need encouragement they are there to cheer me on to success. Without them life would be so much more difficult.  I would have nowhere to turn to when I needed a different perspective. 

Last, I have my church (this is a more recent addition).  I have found great comfort and encouragement in the church.  I have always been a very spiritual person, but I have a new value for fellowship.  They provide me with support that my family struggles with and I am limited on this type with my friends.  I need people that are walking the same direction with me to support me in my spiritual walk.  Without them I wouldn’t be able to continue to guide my children without this support.  I am so grateful for these supports because without them I wouldn’t be able to continue to strive for better in my life without these supports. 

If these supports were gone from my life I would be a very different person.  I would not have been able to try my best at perusing my education or even finish school without my support systems.  These helped me when I didn’t think I could go on anymore.  I have had my share for rough times like most so it has been great that I was able to succeed with so much.  I am the first to graduate from college in my family and now to be perusing a master’s degree is amazing. 

I chose the challenge of depression.  I chose this challenge because I don’t fully understand how someone can be so down that they can’t get up and move on.  I can only imagine that somewhere along the way they have a break down in their mind of their support systems.  Somewhere in their brain they believe that they aren’t worth supporting and they just can’t deal.  I would need support for…

• ·        My  housekeeping
• ·        Childcare
• ·        Job
• ·        Physically care

My family would help me with my home and children.  My friends would help me with my job responsibilities and my family.  My church would help me to overcome these difficult challenges that would come with this illness.

If I didn’t have these supports I can only imagine that my children would be taken from me because I wouldn’t be able to care for them.  I would lose my job and become homeless.  I wouldn’t be able to make myself follow through without my strength from the Lord and also from my church. 

I would probably just withdraw from society all together without my family and great friends.  It is hard to say what would happen next.  I think it would just continue to get worse.

Moving Forward

As another class comes to a close and we move forward on our journey of learning and self discovery I would like to to say thank you so much.  I have really enjoyed the help and input from my colleagues and instructors.  This class has been very informational and meaningful for me. I have learned a lot about myself and my own children, plus things that will help me to become a more successful parent and educator.  I am looking forward to moving ahead to a new challenge with this next class.  Thanks again.

Assessment Oh, Assessment

I think that it is important for us to understand first what assessment means.  Assessment is typically defined as evaluating the quality or ability of an event or a person’s knowledge.  I think that in many cases we are very focused on assessing a child’s academic knowledge.  We often forget that our students are more than test scores.  I think that if we are going to assess our students’ academic knowledge then we need to think also about their psychosocial and biosocial development as well.  I feel that many times our expectations for what we want our students to do academically are misguided.  Our nation is very focused on making sure that we aren’t falling behind other countries in the race for knowledge; however are we paying a price with the development of our students as a whole?  Our students need to be educated and our assessment needs to be used to improve their learning not just for the sake of assessing and receive funding. 

A recent article in Educational Leadership stated that assessment around the world does vary but many of the concerns are still the same.  In the U.S. the biggest complaint is that teachers are teaching to the test. Many feel that we aren’t holding our students to the right standards and thus we can meet their goals. “ In most other countries, however, including the Czech Republic, England, Canada, Japan, and Australia, teaching to the test means teaching the curriculum, because the same agency that develops the test also develops the curriculum. In fact, the test is often seen as a mechanism to promote the curriculum,” (Levinson, 2000, p. 60). If only there was a way to assess students for the benefit of instruction and not for the monetary punishment of failing schools. 

The idea of assessment is a very tricky one for me as an educator.  I think that assessing our students is a very important part of our job; however I also think that many times we are just testing for monetary gain and not for the true purpose of guiding our instruction.  If instead of making our testing high stakes maybe we should make them more like high learning and fund the time that it takes educators to evaluate an educational attack plan to aide struggling students. 

References:

http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el200002_levinson.pdf

Stressor

This week we were asked to write about a stressor that had affected either us or someone we know.  I chose to write about the stressor of poverty and how it affected a friend of mine.  I will call him “A”. Before I begin I would like to define what poverty is just to give us some perspective.  Dictionary.com defines poverty as “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor” or “deficiency of necessary or desirable ingredients, qualities”.

My friend “A” grew up in poverty.  When my friend’s his father lost his job because the company moved to Mexico where they could make their products cheaper; it through his family for a loop.  His mother was mentally ill and unable to get disability and unable to work, so his father was the sole bread winner.  They were barely getting by while he was working and loosing his job did not help the situation at all.  They struggled with knowing where their next meal would come from and working whatever jobs they could get to make enough to eat.  Many times their only meals came from school.  Sadly this affected my friend in many ways but the ways that it has affected him the most have been biosocially and pychosocially. 

Due to the fact that they ate what was cheap and easy to make he formed poor eating habits.  Also having very little to eat he would over eat when there was food.  This later in life has caused “A” many problems.  He is very over weight and has a difficult time knowing when to stop eating, even though his situation has improved.  Also due to his extreme poverty he was never able really to learn how to interact with other correctly. This also still causes him many problems because it is difficult to know what is appropriate for different professional and social situations. 

I think that he used laughter and education as a means to help him cope with their poverty.  He read a lot and learned how to use his hands.  Through that he was able to maintain some form of spirit until things got a little bit better. 

I found this stressor of poverty something that is so widespread throughout the entire world.  Even, here at home, in the United States we are struggling with high amounts of poverty.  Our numbers are not that of countries like African; however they are just not acceptable for a developed country like America.  The U.S. Census Bureau reported for 2010 the national rate of poverty was 15.1% and has been on an increase for the last four years. http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/income_wealth/cb11-157.html

There are many reasons for the rise in poverty. Loss of jobs due to the economic downfall, resulting in a lack of income, segregation due to race and lack of income and many others.  Being in poverty typically will mean that you are then going to have a lack of food.  This would then speak to the problem of hunger in America.  Thousands of adults and children are going hungry every day in America. 

America isn’t even the worst of it though; places like Africa have situations that are even worse than ours.  According to worldpoverty.org many places are experiencing absolute poverty, “Absolute poverty involves people and their children having extreme difficulty in merely surviving. Such poverty at its worst can involve hunger amounting to starvation, often combined with inadequate shelter or housing and clothing. Absolute poverty has been common in more primitive societies, and is still common in many Third World countries in Africa, Asia and South America especially where it can afflict the majority of the population.”

Just as mentioned above hunger in these places usually ends in starvation.  Children in this type of stressor have little means of coping.  Their brains will cease to develop once the starvation has progressed far enough.  Our bodies will steal all the nourishment that it can for our brains to continue to develop until it can steal no longer and then our bodies start to break down.  If a child is starving their biosocial development will cease and the child physical and mental growth will stunt.  This will also begin to affect their cognitive development and well as psychosocial development. 

There are many things that are being tried to help stop these issues of poverty and hunger.  However, with the economical down spirals of so many countries aide is becoming scarcer.  There is one organization that is trying a new approach in hopes that it will have more permanent results.  The Hunger Project (THP) is a global, non-profit, strategic organization committed to the sustainable end of world hunger. They have recently started trying to teach the people how to take care of themselves more and provided them with the resource but are making the people responsible for making something out of them.  I think that this approach is one of the best ways to begin to combat hunger and poverty.  I would encourage you to check out their website. http://www.thp.org/

Breastfeeding in Public

This week I chose a topic that is both important for our future children but also very close to my heart; Breastfeeding. I breastfed both my children, and I was very lucky because I had enough milk and minimal problems.  I think that to breastfeed is one of the most wonderful gifts of nature ever, however not everyone is as lucky as I.  I researched a lot before I had my children and I also had planned out that I was going to nurse my children so I was ready when the time came.  I took classes at my hospital and spoke with their lactation department.  I think that part of my success was having so much information at the tip of my fingers. 

My family was supportive, but they were supportive in an apprehensive way.  I made it clear that I was going to nurse and they didn’t have a choice in it and that I wasn’t going to be ashamed either.  I think that in the US we are encouraged to do what is best for our babies, but you better not let anyone see it.  I think the biggest thing in the US is that people don’t think of breasts like they should… Mammary glands.  They are more of a sex symbol and you can’t have that just flashing everyone.  Sadly I think that is why so many of our young women just give up or don’t even try.  I can say that over the last five years things have improved.  When I started nursing my son you couldn’t find a nursing station anywhere.  You were just supposed to go to the bathroom, sit on the toilet, and figure it out from there.  When I had my daughter there seemed to be more popping up all over the place.  I think that as a society we are starting to change. It is slow and steady.  My hope is that in the next few years it will be taboo to feed our children formula unless you medically can’t or there isn’t enough milk in your system. 

In other countries it is vastly different from here.  Many women nurse as long as their baby wants to, which is sometimes even to the age of 4 or 5.  In many countries it is expected and frowned upon if you are not able.  In several countries England, Scotland, and Ireland to name a few, it is illegal to ask a nursing mother to stop nursing in public.  That is completely different than here, because if you aren’t covered completely in some parts of the US, the law will allow you to be arrested for indecent exposure.  It isn't illegal to breastfeed in public however it is illegal to expose yourself in public.  Women have been charged with this; however many times the charges are dropped.  The point is that we shouldn't even bee bothered with this silliness because it is what is best for children.  I personally think that whoever thought up that law was just one sex starved person because there is nothing sexual or indecent about breastfeeding. 

I try whenever possible to influence others that I know to nurse.  I will continue to do this but I will also have more reason to help others understand its importance and acceptance around the world.  

I have included a link about breastfeeding in other countries.

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