My Child Has a Good Life

In Africa, malaria kills one child every 30 seconds. More

My child complains that she has to take a bath to wash off the “bug juice” (mosquito repellent) after she plays outside.  She exclaims loudly at each bug bite, requesting ‘medicine’ and a Dora bandaid for each one.

Worldwide, more than 125 million children under five years of age live in households without access to safe drinking water.  More

My 3 year old* child just learned how to get her own water from the spout on the front of the fridge.  Water that has been treated, and then locally filtered to remove impurities that might affect taste. When she has drunk enough from her glass, she stands on tiptoe to pour out the rest as she is “done with it.” 

Globally, more than 280 million children under five live in households without UN acceptable sanitation – many having to share a village cesspit with other households.  More

My child has learned that she can delay going to bed or other unwanted tasks by sitting on the potty and saying “I’m waiting to poop!”  She just recently learned that it was POSSIBLE to pee in the woods when we are too far from a potty to keep an accident from happening. (She now, of course,  wants to do it again.)

1 in 10 households in the US  report being unable to afford nutricious meals for their children or report being unable to afford enough food to keep their children from going hungry. Some report their children going without food for a whole day.

My child is offered twice as much food as she will likely eat at each meal, and sometimes must be coaxed into eating what her mother thinks is ‘enough’ calories for a meal. She rarely has to wait more than 24 hours if we are out of something (nutricious) she wants to eat.

1 in 25 children in the US has no parent to live with (that’s 2.9 million kids). (cite)

Once she is home from daycare/school, my child is rarely ever without one of three parents, and can CHOOSE which one puts her to bed at night, which one(s) play with her after dinner, which one gives her a bath, and in what order each of them kisses her goodnight. At school, she has a teacher/child ratio of 1:10 or less. Oh yea, she gets to go to safe, education-based daycare five days a week.

Tonight, when I put my child to bed, there will be something like 300,000 homeless persons in the US without a bed (on the “street” or in other places not meant for human habitation).  Roughly 6300 of these homeless persons will be considered “unaccompanied youth.”  More

My child sleeps in her own room, in her own bed, with between 12-20 “stuffed friends,” 5 pillows, 2-4 blankets, warm pajamas (generally with socks), two night lights, a sippy cup of safe water, and 3 parents nearby. Her house is warm, dry, safe, and reasonably clean. She can go to the bathroom within 20 steps of her bed, indoors, in sanitary conditions. She lives in a comparatively safe neighborhood, where we are not afraid to have her out at night and are only chagrined when we forget to lock the doors at night.

My child has a GOOD life.  A VERY good life.  She is wonderfully fortunate. And very loved.

Perhaps, then, I should scale back on the level of child-related worry I seem to carry around with me every moment of every day? You think?

*2 years, 50 weeks, 6 days and counting.