The Soccer Mom Vote

Raising children is hard

Is it me, or has raising children just gotten much harder?  I remember devoting hours to finishing Pitfall—the height of video game technology when I was a kid.  Now kids can spend hours learning to be criminals with Grand Theft Auto. 

I remember how violent and edgy the culture was when I was a kid.  All the jiggle-fests on TV (Charlie’s Angels, Three’s Company, etc.), all the movies that even today shock the sensibilities, (ie. Halloween, etc.), but that’s nothing next to the sheer volume of movies being put out today.  I heard that Warner Brothers is not even making any movies next year—it’s just focusing on its video empire. 

Then there’s all the channels on the TV, not to mention the Internet.  That was a bad word in my house for a while.  Because without parental diligence, there is any manner of evil lurking about to devour your children. 

A lot of times, I think we expect things from our government that it was not made to do.  Like to keep us fed, clothed, healthy, etc.  Our government is supposed to do things like keep us safe from enemy attack, build and keep up roads, and run the country by checks and balances.

This country encourages freedom, and there are many taking advantage of this freedom to hurt families.  There are legal and illegal industries targeting communities with helpful and harmful products.  What is the government’s responsibility to promote the helpful and protect us from the harmful?  I don’t know that it has such a responsibility beyond regulation. 

We are the ones who must raise our children.  We must answer for how they turn out.  It would just be easier if we agreed on how to raise them and help each other out.  Maybe it’s all the disagreement that is making childrearing so much harder this millennium.

Governor Palin, I'm calling you out

When I first read about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, I was intrigued.  She's one of only eight women running a state government, mothers five children, runs marathons, and manages to have approval ratings in the 90's.  As if that weren't enough, her name continues to be mentioned on the short-list of people being considered as McCain's vice-presidential nominee.  Regardless of whether you agree with her politics, you'd be an idiot not to be impressed by Gov. Palin's rise up the Republican ranks.

The 44-year-old governor gave birth to her fifth child in April.  Trig Paxson Van Palin was born in Alaska right after the governor returned from Texas, where she gave a luncheon keynote for an energy conference.  He made his arrival a month early, weighing in at 6 lbs, 2 ounces.

He also has a diagnosis of Down syndrome, a genetic condition caused by the presence of three -- rather than the typical two -- copies of chromosome 21.  By the family's report, Trig's condition was revealed during the fourth month of her pregnancy by prenatal genetic testing.  Both parents admit to being shocked and challenged by the news, but hold strong pro-life beliefs that made a termination of the pregnancy out of the question.  Like all parents, they view their son as precious and perfect and are willing to make whatever effort is necessary to help him reach his full potential.

Let me first say that I offer my sincere congratulations to the Palins on the birth of their son.  I am sure he is a joy and a blessing.

Further, I understand how this experience might have deepened the governor's pro-life convictions.  Her decision has not gone unnoticed -- the story has appeared on many pro-life websites and supportive comments from other parents of children with special needs have poured in.   While Gov. Palin's choice to continue her pregnancy was no doubt a personal one, it's given her incredible political power on this issue.  Vogue cover notwithstanding, say hello to the new poster child of pro-life politics.

Here's where I take issue with the governor: what about rallying around the health and educational needs of children with physical and cognitive disabilities? If there is going to be an issue that raising a son with special needs makes close to your heart, shouldn't it be more about the many years of his life, rather than the nine months of his prenatal development?

A recent study published by the Commonwealth Fund, a non-profit organization that specializes in health policy, ranked Alaska 42nd in measures of health care access, quality, costs, equity and health outcomes in children.  Included in the study were several indicators that related directly to children with special health care needs.  Of children aged 1-17 with an identified emotional, behavioral, or developmental problem, only 52% had received mental health care the last year (rank: 47).  For children with special health care needs needing referrals to specialty care, only 23% got them (rank: 32).  And while it doesn't apply specifically to children with special needs (but certainly affects their quality of care), only 38% of Alaskan children have a medical home (rank: 47).  Incidentally, all of these issues with access and quality of care exist despite the fact that Alaskans spend more out-of-pocket for health care than most Americans and have higher health insurance premiums.

Claiming the title of "pro-life" should obligate you to more than an end to abortion -- it should make you wish for and work for a high quality of life for the children who are already here.  By virtue of the family he was born to, Trig Palin will have access to high quality healthcare.  However, based on current data, his fellow generation of Alaskan children may not be so lucky.

Governor Palin, I have no doubt you'll take excellent care of your son.  Now, do what needs to be done for the rest of Alaska's kids.

[Photo: Jim Lavrakas, Anchorage Daily News]

   

The Pregnancy Pact

Time Magazine, this week, published a story about a community North of Boston where 17 girls in the local high school have been identified as pregnant. The high number has been news around the state for a while; tied, erroneously it turns out, to a political fight about the availability of birth control pills at the high school health center.

In the Time article, the principal of the school revealed that there had been a pact among several girls to get pregnant and raise their babies together. Suspicions were raised when several of the girls appeared at the health center for repeated pregnancy tests and were visibly disappointed in a negative result. Further investigation revealed that many of the fathers were not students at the high school and one was a 24 year-old homeless man.

Reaction in the community and on the web has ranged from head-shaking to finger-waggling. Some are waving the morality flag and others pointing to the availability of welfare as some kind of incentive for this behavior. Many, many are screaming "WHERE WERE THE PARENTS?" 

Indeed, the best answer to the "why" of this situation comes from am 18-year old mother, not part of the pact, who was quoted in the article:

But Amanda Ireland, who graduated from Gloucester High on June 8, thinks she knows why these girls wanted to get pregnant. Ireland, 18, gave birth her freshman year and says some of her now pregnant schoolmates regularly approached her in the hall, remarking how lucky she was to have a baby. "They're so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally," Ireland says. "I try to explain it's hard to feel loved when an infant is screaming to be fed at 3 a.m."

Gloucester, Massachusetts may be best known for being the site of the film The Perfect Storm, and in earlier days, as the home of the Gorton's fisherman. Fishing is still its main industry, but as a result of environmental and regulatory constraints, as well as the factory trawling done by other countries, the propects for recent generations have shrunk. Tourism, the only alternative industry on the horizon, has progressed in fits and starts as the community struggles to maintain its fishing heritage.

Though the pact, and the sheer numbers involved, are unusual, this story raises questions about other communities around the country where factories have closed and jobs have gone overseas. Girls are raised without career aspirations because there are no careers to be had. College and skills training are only helpful if there are jobs available. The only dream left to them is to create a family of their very own, even if they can't really afford it.

Without resorting to protectionism, how do we create more opportunities in this country, especially in rural areas? Removing the corporate tax incentives for offshoring is a good start, but more must be done. Education for entrepreneurship, investment in rural communities, and incentives for new businesses to repurpose the abandoned facilities of old businesses are all initiatives worth investigation.

Accidents do happen, but girls with career aspirations typically don't want to get pregnant in high school. While many of the girls will inevitably hope for a better life for the children they are expecting, its hard to have hope without opportunity.

A (Nomi)Nation Moves Forward. Slowly, at first.

The long and heated, sometime ugly, sometimes inspiring, Democratic nomination fight has come to a close. Barriers were broken, but so were a lot of other things. The exposed wounds are not yet healed.

But they will be.

As a Clinton supporter, my disappointment is mixed with relief that the primary process is over, and frustration with the diehard Obama supporters angry that Hillary has not yet kissed the coronation ring.

Give her, and her supporters, some time.

Give us some time and we will rally around your candidate.

We will support his charismatic leadership, his vision of a nation that can do better than we are doing now, his belief in diplomacy, his personification of a multi-faceted nation, somehow united.

We will encourage him as he crafts his foreign policy, even as it evolves from where he began. That is good. It shows growth and an ability to adapt to "the reality on the ground." Something the country desperately needs after 5 years of unsuccessful "staying the course."

We will applaud when he stands as a champion for affordable health care, job development, sustainable energy policy, and educational innovation.

And when the time comes, we will defend his flaws.

Just as we defended Hillary's. And Bill's.  Because for all of his impressive qualities, Barack Obama is still human.

Similarly, we will support Michelle Obama, because as Hillary supporters, we have seen what she will soon be experiencing, and much of it ain't pretty.

But please don't shake a finger at us because we are not there yet. It's been a long battle, a hard road. We are weary.

But we are still strong, and we'll be there when you need us most.