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SMDH, as they say.<\/p>\n
Let me start by telling you about the \u201cfamily bill of rights\u201d as declared by senator and presidential candidate Kristin Gillibrand, which dates to late May but only came to my attention last week as a result of an Institute for Family Studies blogpost<\/a>.<\/p>\n She proposes the following five items in a Medium blogpost<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201c1. The right to a safe and healthy pregnancy\u201d, which sounds unobjectionable enough.<\/p>\n \u201c2. The right to give birth or adopt a child, regardless of income or sexual orientation\u201d \u2013 which includes prohibitions of \u201cdiscrimination\u201d by \u201ctaxpayer-funded adoption and child welfare agencies\u201d as well as tax credits to enable low income families to adopt (hmmm. . . do low income families have the \u201cright\u201d to adopt an infant matching their racial and ethnic identity, without any identified disabilities, or just some<\/em> child; the latter is, of course, \u201cfree\u201d via adopt-from-foster, but the cost of the former is not only as high as $45,000 but severely constrained by supply<\/a> in a way that no tax credits can remedy), and mandated fertility treatment coverage by insurance companies (she references LTBTQ couples in particular but then gives IVF as a type of benefit she\u2019d mandate \u2014 would she go as far as requiring insurance-paid surrogacy for gay couples?).<\/p>\n \u201c3.\u00a0 The right to a safe and affordable nursery\u201d . . . yeah, let\u2019s get back to that one.<\/p>\n \u201c4. The right to personally care for your loved ones while still getting paid, including care for your child in its infancy\u201d \u2014 yes, that means paid leave for caregivers of newborns and aging parents.\u00a0 (Why not toddlers and preschoolers, if this is a right, after all?)<\/p>\n \u201c5. The right to affordable child care and early education before kindergarten is available publicly\u201d \u2014 this one is not a surprise.\u00a0 Everyone\u2019s promising state-funded daycare.<\/p>\n But what about #3, the \u201cright to a safe and affordable nursery\u201d?<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what she says:<\/p>\n The costs of raising and safely caring for a newborn can be daunting, and too many families simply can\u2019t afford it. I will launch a new program to provide \u201cbaby bundles\u201d for new parents so that all new families, regardless of income, can start off on the right foot with the supplies they need. These bundles will be filled with the most important items for a child\u2019s first month at home, like diapers, swaddle blankets, and onesies, all in a box with a small mattress that can be repurposed as a nursery bed.<\/p>\n Finland has dramatically lowered its rates of infant mortality as a result of its baby bundle program. And here at home, Ohio, Alabama, New Jersey<\/a>, and Texas<\/a> all offer a version of the program for new families.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n So, to begin with, the Finnish version of a \u201cbaby box\u201d has been around for generations now<\/a>, and it\u2019s become a part of their culture.\u00a0 Each new mother receives her choice of a box filled with layette items or a modest voucher \u2014 there are onesies, bodysuits, a snowsuit, cloth diapers, and even condoms.\u00a0 and the box itself, with a small mattress, serves as a bassinet for the smallest babies.\u00a0 It\u2019s credited with reducing infant mortality, though not so much due to the box itself (though it promotes infant safe sleeping) as because it came with the requirement for prenatal checkups at a point at which Finland was rather poor and the practice was not the norm.<\/p>\n In the United States, as Gillibrand says, there are indeed versions of the program in a few states<\/a>.\u00a0 Parents have to watch a brief video of \u201csafe sleep\u201d recommendations to qualify, and it\u2019s run through the state governments, but it\u2019s not really the same concept at all.\u00a0 I came up empty trying to find out how much these states are paying the vendor, and how much of the business model is really a matter of the vendor providing a fairly cheap product funded by baby-product manufacturers giving away free samples \u2014 though not baby clothes, but instead small packs of diapers and sample sizes of personal care products, plus coupons.\u00a0 (Here\u2019s an Upworthy page<\/a> which is impressed for seemingly not much reason, and some discussion forum chat which seems to suggest that retailers have gotten into the act<\/a>, again, attracting customers for the samples, but the \u201cbaby box\u201d vendor is charging $70<\/a> for individual customers.\u00a0 Another website<\/a> says these boxes are untested and unsanitary because, naturally enough, there\u2019s no way to clean up diaper blow-outs or other spills.)<\/p>\n So near as I can tell, it\u2019s a scam.\u00a0 The baby box company sells them to states for undisclosed costs promoting \u201csafe sleeping\u201d, and stocks them with samples, which parents seek out and toss the box.\u00a0 It\u2019s the 2019 version of the diaper bag full of baby formula.\u00a0 How many parents use the boxes for their intended purpose is wholly unknown.<\/p>\n But Gillibrand, apparently enamored of the idea, thinks that not only should the federal government get into the act, but that it extends beyond a \u201cnice idea\u201d to something that is every parent\u2019s right.<\/p>\n A right.<\/p>\n And I was dumbfounded at how far the rhetoric around \u201crights\u201d has gone.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s another example:\u00a0 Nature Cat.<\/p>\n Yes, I was with my kid at the pediatrician\u2019s office for his annual check-up.\u00a0 It\u2019s been a long time since the days of far more frequent visits, let alone of watching kids\u2019 TV at home, but PBS Kids was playing, and it was a show called Nature Cat.\u00a0 The basic plotline of this episode (which was actually fairly short, or maybe shifted into a different direction later, as we really didn\u2019t have to wait that long) was that the Bad Cat had built a waterslide that diverted the water and dried up the marsh and all its plant life, leaving the anthropomorphic animals to suffer.\u00a0 So the Good Cat gave him a talking-to, he realized the error of his ways, and discovered that (duh! why didn\u2019t he think of that before) all he needed to do was move the waterslide and he and his fellow Bad Cats could enjoy it while the marsh was preserved.\u00a0 So in that sense it was a typical children\u2019s lesson on nature:\u00a0 we all must care about the environment, but, no worries, there are never any tradeoffs.<\/p>\n Except that in this case they introduced a new concept to their child-viewers:\u00a0 \u201cnature\u2019s rights.\u201d\u00a0 And what are they?\u00a0 In this clip<\/a> (at about the 2 minute mark), Nature Cat said, \u201crights are like rules that tell everyone what is allowed and what is not allowed.\u201d\u00a0 (Not in the clip is a further statement that \u201cnature\u201d itself has \u201crights,\u201d which is the point at which I looked up from my phone.)<\/p>\n Oh, and a couple days ago, Bernie Sanders made a speech proclaiming his \u201ceconomic bill of rights.\u201d\u00a0 As cited by Megan McArdle<\/a>,<\/p>\n In his prepared remarks, he promised an \u201cEconomic Bill of Rights\u201d to complement the old-fashioned political one, guaranteeing \u201cevery man, woman and child in our country basic economic rights \u2014 the right to quality health care, the right to as much education as one needs to succeed in our society, the right to a good job that pays a living wage, the right to affordable housing, the right to a secure retirement and the right to live in a clean environment.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And, yes, even the UN\u2019s landmark 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights<\/a> includes these \u201ceconomic rights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n