Treating kids as invulnerable is treating them as disposable

Thu, 2 Mar 2023 14:28:16 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-treating-kids-as-invulnerable-is-treating-them-as-disposable>

"Parents often believe in a societal fiction that children will just be OK and
will live healthy lives. This can help cope with the anxieties of raising
children.

The truth is, there is no guarantee children will be OK. When you take off the
rose-coloured glasses and look at life for what it is, there are no guarantees
at all. As grief counsellors often point out, death is a natural part of life.
However, death can be hidden and ignored in our society, in favour of a sort of
blissful ignorance. But if your child ever becomes seriously disabled or dies,
you come to understand how utterly meaningless many of the things that you
previously found important were.

The myth that children will just be fine is largely a product of the comfort we
have been afforded by the past 100 years of public health progress.
Historically, almost half of all children died before adulthood. Even in 1950
child mortality rates were five times as high as today. Along with clean water
and hygiene, one big part of progress has been the near eradication of many
infectious diseases by vaccines. That trend is now reversing as more people
become vaccine-hesitant or anti-vaccination."

Via Violet Blue’s Pandemic Roundup: February 16, 2023
https://www.patreon.com/posts/pandemic-roundup-78762468

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

Comment via email

Home E-Mail Sponsors Index Search About Us