Earth
17/12/14
Dear God,
At the outset let me thank you for giving us our precious darlings. Till you gave them to us, we really did not know what we were missing in life. From the moment we held them in our arms, we made it our life's mission to protect them till our last breath. It started with cradling their little wobbly necks with one hand upright, almost all the time, so much so that we developed muscles we never knew we had, doing just that.
Car seats became an immediate and urgent need. Then we bought a baby cot so they would not flip themselves out onto the floor the minute they began turning over. It wouldn't do to hurt those soft, fragile little skulls you know. The minute they showed the first signs of crawling, we baby proofed the house. Out went anything the least bit dangerous like tables with sharp edges, flimsy side tables just made to topple over onto a curious baby, glass knick knacks and the like. Never mind if our house began to look as if we were packed and ready to move out the next day or that we had gone bankrupt and had been forced to pawn all our belongings! We also sincerely plugged in all the open sockets. We didn't want them to get the first jolt of their young lives the minute they put those itching- to- explore fingers into plug holes.
Those first shaky steps had either parent following close behind. And when they started climbing up and down the stairs, our hearts were in our mouths, God, those first few times. We could not understand if we should help them by trailing them from behind or we should go ahead of them and guide them up. A fall ahead might just knock off those two newly minted pearls in their pink gums but a backward fall could injure a tender back or give the back of the head a good whack. It was a difficult dilema for sure.
When they started solid food we mashed up the food as best as we could and banned all the foods that had made it to the choking list, for many years to come. We certainly did not what our adorable darlings to choke to death on pop corn or hard boiled sweets.
Then they started school and we understood first hand, what it was like to have our hearts wandering around, out of sight, anywhere they might please, doing who knew what dangerous things like hanging upside down from gym bars or creeping backwards up the slide and this when they were barely out of diapers. We did the next best thing we could, monitoring who they spent their time with, which parties they attended (oh yes, toddlers are socially much in demand!) and really tried to protect them from physical, sexual and verbal abuse to the best of our ability.
Badly scraped, bleeding knees, banged up elbows, deep wounds requiring a stich or two (okay five!) broken arms and legs while playing games, brought tears to our eyes and theirs. But we braved it out, God, we really did.We cooked the best,freshest and most nutricious food that we could afford to build up their immunity to its utmost, to help them grow into healthy adults.
And the vaccines! From the day they were born we shelled out hefty amounts of money to protect them from all the killer diseases of the last century. Month in and month out we lugged our growing- heavier- by- the- day tots to the paediatrician. They took shots for Hepatitis B and yes we didn't forget A either, for diptheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, mumps, chicken pox, Haemophilus influenzae B,typhoid, yellow fever and who knows how many other diseases. We dribbled tasteless polio drops down their throats till they began protesting out loud and we sincerely took them for all the booster shots too. We avoided holidaying in bird flu, swine flu and ebola stricken countries and we spent nights mopping them with cool cloths whenever they had fever due to a viral infection.
God, it was you who gave Edward Jenner, Louis Pasteur, Jonas Salk and their brilliant ilk the wisdom to develop so many life saving vaccines. Now we have one more request. Please God, make someone develop a vaccine that will make our children immune to death by gun toting, bomb throwing entities.(We refuse to call them people or animals). That way, no matter where they are, be it at a railway station in Mumbai,in a mall in Nairobi, on the subway in new York, in a cafe in Sydney or in a school in Pakistan, they will not die. Their precious lives cannot and should not be snuffed out like candles. And oh yes, and while you are at it, make a limited quantity of the anti bullet and bomb vaccine for mothers with dependant children too. Much as we would give our lives for them in a heart beat, we would like to live for them too, at least as long as they still need us!
From,
Mothers who are at their wits' end on how to keep children safe in a terrifying world.
17/12/14
Dear God,
At the outset let me thank you for giving us our precious darlings. Till you gave them to us, we really did not know what we were missing in life. From the moment we held them in our arms, we made it our life's mission to protect them till our last breath. It started with cradling their little wobbly necks with one hand upright, almost all the time, so much so that we developed muscles we never knew we had, doing just that.
Car seats became an immediate and urgent need. Then we bought a baby cot so they would not flip themselves out onto the floor the minute they began turning over. It wouldn't do to hurt those soft, fragile little skulls you know. The minute they showed the first signs of crawling, we baby proofed the house. Out went anything the least bit dangerous like tables with sharp edges, flimsy side tables just made to topple over onto a curious baby, glass knick knacks and the like. Never mind if our house began to look as if we were packed and ready to move out the next day or that we had gone bankrupt and had been forced to pawn all our belongings! We also sincerely plugged in all the open sockets. We didn't want them to get the first jolt of their young lives the minute they put those itching- to- explore fingers into plug holes.
Those first shaky steps had either parent following close behind. And when they started climbing up and down the stairs, our hearts were in our mouths, God, those first few times. We could not understand if we should help them by trailing them from behind or we should go ahead of them and guide them up. A fall ahead might just knock off those two newly minted pearls in their pink gums but a backward fall could injure a tender back or give the back of the head a good whack. It was a difficult dilema for sure.
When they started solid food we mashed up the food as best as we could and banned all the foods that had made it to the choking list, for many years to come. We certainly did not what our adorable darlings to choke to death on pop corn or hard boiled sweets.
Then they started school and we understood first hand, what it was like to have our hearts wandering around, out of sight, anywhere they might please, doing who knew what dangerous things like hanging upside down from gym bars or creeping backwards up the slide and this when they were barely out of diapers. We did the next best thing we could, monitoring who they spent their time with, which parties they attended (oh yes, toddlers are socially much in demand!) and really tried to protect them from physical, sexual and verbal abuse to the best of our ability.
Badly scraped, bleeding knees, banged up elbows, deep wounds requiring a stich or two (okay five!) broken arms and legs while playing games, brought tears to our eyes and theirs. But we braved it out, God, we really did.We cooked the best,freshest and most nutricious food that we could afford to build up their immunity to its utmost, to help them grow into healthy adults.
And the vaccines! From the day they were born we shelled out hefty amounts of money to protect them from all the killer diseases of the last century. Month in and month out we lugged our growing- heavier- by- the- day tots to the paediatrician. They took shots for Hepatitis B and yes we didn't forget A either, for diptheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, mumps, chicken pox, Haemophilus influenzae B,typhoid, yellow fever and who knows how many other diseases. We dribbled tasteless polio drops down their throats till they began protesting out loud and we sincerely took them for all the booster shots too. We avoided holidaying in bird flu, swine flu and ebola stricken countries and we spent nights mopping them with cool cloths whenever they had fever due to a viral infection.
God, it was you who gave Edward Jenner, Louis Pasteur, Jonas Salk and their brilliant ilk the wisdom to develop so many life saving vaccines. Now we have one more request. Please God, make someone develop a vaccine that will make our children immune to death by gun toting, bomb throwing entities.(We refuse to call them people or animals). That way, no matter where they are, be it at a railway station in Mumbai,in a mall in Nairobi, on the subway in new York, in a cafe in Sydney or in a school in Pakistan, they will not die. Their precious lives cannot and should not be snuffed out like candles. And oh yes, and while you are at it, make a limited quantity of the anti bullet and bomb vaccine for mothers with dependant children too. Much as we would give our lives for them in a heart beat, we would like to live for them too, at least as long as they still need us!
From,
Mothers who are at their wits' end on how to keep children safe in a terrifying world.
Amen!
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