U.S. on List of UNICEF's Worst Countries for Kids
http://media.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2007/feb/childreport.pdf
Check out the breakdowns on page 2 of this report...
For a long time Aidan has thought the only thing to be when he grows up is a rockstar, and he isn't even exposed to much American media. He's also been obsessed with acting cool. A little scary how one-dimensional American culture is and how it directly affects your kids, even when you're not letting them come into contact with it. I convinced Aidan otherwise, in both instances, by explaining that people always bother rockstars and that being cool means being nice. But how long is going to actually listen to his old mom? :)
Check out the breakdowns on page 2 of this report...
For a long time Aidan has thought the only thing to be when he grows up is a rockstar, and he isn't even exposed to much American media. He's also been obsessed with acting cool. A little scary how one-dimensional American culture is and how it directly affects your kids, even when you're not letting them come into contact with it. I convinced Aidan otherwise, in both instances, by explaining that people always bother rockstars and that being cool means being nice. But how long is going to actually listen to his old mom? :)
posted by mnlop at
1:10 PM
6 Comments:
I give him at least until he's 8. but don't worry, that's what church is for. it re-aligns a lot of those beliefs that you and john won't be 'cool' enough to realign for him. but you guys are artists, maybe you'll be the 'cool' parents in the neighborhood.
I have some problems with the methodology of this report. Seeing England being ranked so high above the US in the health category was my first clue (do not get in a position to need to go to a hospital in England). Also, their ranking of financial health is being based on "relative poverty" which they have defined as "living in a household where the equivalent income is less than 50% of the national median", which seems completely useless and based more on children-per-household than anything. Though I agree on the one-dimensionalness of our culture, and I will use all of my funkle powers to convince Aidan that being nice is cool.
I think the report's about right. Consider that in many countries paternity leave has a whole different dimension to it than in the U.S. While the U.K did rank higher, it wasn't by much and both are deep-sixed by the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. One huge sore in all this is that over 40 million childern in the U.S. don't have any form of health insurance. While England's hospital system might not be the greatest, at least it's financially accessible. I think they've done a good job of balancing cost-of-living and GDP, too. That can be a tricky; we look at GDP and think we're pretty well off but compared to cost-of-living it's not all that hot. Especially for the 12 million folks who make under a.) approx $6000/yr singly or b.) $10,000 for a family of four. I'm not saying we ditch capitalism and turn everything over to the state, but in real terms I think the Nordic countries have us beat. After all, they gave us Ikea. And if anyone out there teaches the masses that being nice is cool, it's Ikea.
I'm headed to Stockholm in a couple of weeks. I'll do my best to end up in the hospital and report.
I don't think there even ARE 40 million children in the US, let alone uninsured ones. Looks like that figure is closer to 8.5 million, which is still a lot.
Yeah, you're right -- I mixed up the total uninsured number with the number of uninsured children. With a population hovering around 250 million, I sure hope a good 40 million or so (at least) are under the age of 18.
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