Since everyone is oohing and aahing about the mother breastfeeding her four year old on the cover of TIME magazine, I’ll throw in my two cents. First, I think that the mission of this poor woman failed miserably. As a staunch advocate for breastfeeding, her purpose in posing was to encourage mothers to breastfeed their babies well beyond the infant and toddler years. Instead, however, it seems that she  made a fool of herself.

TIME put her photo on the cover for one reason: to make viewers gasp and then buy the magazine. That, they did. In fact, I have not heard of one reader who looked at the photo and remarked  how lovely the image was. Instead, I have only heard folks (men and women) make peculiar, guttural noises communicating their- well- disgust at the photo. No one wants to call it disgust of course, because it is a mother and child, but that’s what I fear most Americans felt when they saw the photo.

So did this poor woman succeed in garnering support for mothers breast feeding their children into their early elementary school years? I highly doubt it.

First, there are scant mothers out there who want to…