You know, I have come across so many dialects of English, I have no longer have an idea which one “dummies” is from. We call them pacifiers or binkies, I think.
Australians generally call them ‘dummies’ (and no wisecracks, thank you 
) It may or may not be a British thing, since we steal a lot of our language.
I guess this is my cue…
First, extended breastfeeding. I myself have nursed two babies past the age of three, and I must know at least a couple dozen families whose children have nursed until about the age of two or beyond. I even know some families who have nursed their children until the age of four or so. These parents are all educated, intelligent and sensitive adults, and their children, from what I’ve seen, tend to be very intelligent and loving also.
I wonder if the people who saw the four year old nursing and were “aghast” or “horrified” react that way to billboards depicting women as sex objects, advertisements that glamourize tobacco, tshirts printed with various sexual positions, sex shops displaying their merchandise alongside an elementary school, and trashy movies and television programs like American Pie and Sex in the City (funny, entertaining, but still trashy).
About strollers. I sling my baby, and even my three year old, and I also have a stroller. Strollers can be very useful even with an older child. Sure, 2 -3 year olds can walk, but they also get tired, and there are still groceries to buy, errngds to run. It’s a comfortable place for them to rest/nap, and if you’re in crowds, crossing the street, using the MRT, even the bus, it’s a safe place (strapped in).
About the binkies, I shouldn’t judge because I’m a little “alternative” myself, but I am surprised that people would rather have a binky in their four year old’s mouth than a thumb. Even thumbs can cause dental problems, so a pacifier must be worse.
And do a little reading if it’s relevant to you, and you’ll find that babies do have a “suck need”, some more than others, so pacifiers do have their place. Ignore that need, and they’ll find other ways to try and soothe themselves. Some babies want (and need) to suck, but don’t necessarily want to eat (bottle or breast), so if they can’t suck their fingers to soothe themselves, you help them with a binky.
There’s one other big issue with the binky (giving it to a kid to quiet him without trying to see if there’s something else he needs or wants but can’t express) but I’m hoping someone else who is better with words will touch on that one.
My3 year old only recently stopped to be offered the comforts of a stroller, when we were walking around somewhere, but well, she’s a strong little girl.
I slinged her until we lost the sling around a year ago.
I think its a shortened form of the British “dummy (i.e. fake) tit.”
Excellent answer from the old girlfriend! My Filipina housekeeper says she breastfed her daughter (now 18 yo) for 3 years. She says it’s very common where she’s from.
And Virtual Guanxi (what happened to the guanxi???) to daasgrrl for her posts. 
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Maybe breastfeeding could save some milk money.
My friend from high school breastfed her son until he was three. I can see how the bond between mother and child during feeding sessions would make it even more difficult to stop, but I was bothered by it because by four, I would think that most children would have been weaned off the bottle and therefore weaned off all nipples, synthetic or natural.
However, I’ve been checking out articles on weaning and breastfeeding and many of them suggest the weaning age to be a minimum of 2-1/2 years all the way up to 7 years of age 
. I’m not a mother so I don’t know and I am sure I was not breastfed considering how sickly a child I was. I am just under the impression that breastfeeding is what babies do, not walking, talking, reading kindergarteners. 
It bothers me when I see parents shove a pacifier into an infant’s mouth when it starts crying and then try to put it back in again and again when it spits it out to cry more instead of trying to figure out why the child is crying.
Heh - this really struck a chord with me. All I can say is, it’s tough being a parent. No matter what you do someone will find a way to criticise it. IMO until you have them it’s hard to understand the myriad of a child’s needs and wants and quirks combined with all the choices and pressure of doing the right thing and societal expectations. And even some people with chldren are less than understanding - any way except ‘their way’ is wrong, and that’s the end of it. Some of them get a rude shock when the second child arrives and behaves completely differently from the first! None of this is directed at anyone here - it’s one of my pet rants 
That doesn’t mean people aren’t entitled to ther opinions - I certainly have a million of them! But while some things obviously consitute bad parenting or child abuse, there’s a big grey area in between that is formed by each person’s and their child’s experiences Any responsible parent will try to do their best based on the limits of their time, patience, energy, financial means and knowledge. You won’t find out how you really did until the kids grow up and blame you for everything 
As a parent, all I can say is I’ve done things I thought I would never do when I had kids. Why? Why? Why? BECAUSE I SAID SO, OK???
Shoot, I’m sorry. I meant to write to you privately (or insert one of these smiley faces) to let you know I wasn’t trying to attack you or anything. I know what you mean, I was just trying to help people see the other side of things. No offense intended, okay?
Heh - this really struck a chord with me. All I can say is, it’s tough being a parent. No matter what you do someone will find a way to criticise it. IMO until you have them it’s hard to understand the myriad of a child’s needs and wants and quirks combined with all the choices and pressure of doing the right thing and societal expectations. And even some people with chldren are less than understanding - any way except ‘their way’ is wrong, and that’s the end of it. Some of them get a rude shock when the second child arrives and behaves completely differently from the first! None of this is directed at anyone here - it’s one of my pet rants
That doesn’t mean people aren’t entitled to ther opinions - I certainly have a million of them! But while some things obviously consitute bad parenting or child abuse, there’s a big grey area in between that is formed by each person’s and their child’s experiences Any responsible parent will try to do their best based on the limits of their time, patience, energy, financial means and knowledge. You won’t find out how you really did until the kids grow up and blame you for everything
As a parent, all I can say is I’ve done things I thought I would never do when I had kids. Why? Why? Why? BECAUSE I SAID SO, OK??? [/quote]
Very true! The longer I’m a parent, the more I realize I have so much to learn still!!!
By no means am I offended, and actually, I am glad because it encouraged me to do a little online research and discover some of the ideas on breastfeeding being tossed around. It opened my eyes and now while I still feel shocked by what I saw in France that night, I can begin to see where the mother was coming from. I just don’t know if I could do that, but then as daasgrrl said, you never know until you have one (or two…) of your own.