Innocence Lost

~A Soap Box Issue~

By Katherine Revell

When did childhood become so dangerous and difficult? In our school district, probably yours too, we receive automated, recorded messages on a variety of topics. Here is a sample of messages at my house from the last two weeks:

"Good evening parents. This is Mr. RC., Superintendent of Schools. We want to inform you that a number of students in our district have been infected with MRSA, with me now is Dr. D., to tell you how to prevent spreading this infection....."

"Good evening parents. This is Mr. RC., Superintendent of Schools. We want to assure that we are carefully monitoring Tropical Storm Noel, which may reach hurricane status in the next 24 hours...."

"Good afternoon parents. This is Police Chief J. Due to an escaped fugitive, all schools in your area have now been placed on lock-down. Please monitor your local news for further developments...." I am not kidding. These are actual phone messages I received. Then there is the seemingly never-ending list of contaminated, illegal-drug infested toys and other items made in China. Like you, I sorted through thousands of Thomas the Tank Engine trains to see which ones were recalled for lead paint. The Prince has requested Aqua Dots each time he sees the commercial.

Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is for my child to have fun and to learn at school in a safe and happy environment. Is that so hard? Please send the elves to China to teach the toy manufacturers there a thing of two. Oh, and if you have any sway with The Really Big Guy Above, maybe you could ask him to send some rain to California to put out the fires there and here to the Southeast to ease the drought conditions. Some GFCF chocolate might be nice too. 

Love, GFCF Mommy

Katherine Revell is the author of the popular GFCF Mommy blog.
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Reprinted with permission.