UNICEF to the rescue
I recently did a Google search: United Nations Child Abuse.
Why?
How many times can you tell your kids, "If you really think this is abuse, write to the United Nations?"
I mean, you can’t expect them to actually do anything! Maybe if I help them fill in the forms they could get refugee status on some Caribbean island.
Therefore, I am pleased to tell you my labors paid off, and I found the UNICEF web site. These are the people who "really care" and, as their heading states:
CHILD PROTECTION FROM VIOLENCE, EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE
Perfect.
However, as far as I can tell there’s no place to report that you are being abused. How ridiculous is that!
The cynical side in me would say that if you have access to a computer, you can’t be doing that bad. But that would not be the sympathetic dad I want to project to my kids.
So, after scrolling through categories of abuses, like children in war-torn countries battling the ravages of abject poverty and disease, not to mention child trafficking, I couldn’t find anything that fit the struggles my kids are plagued with like not having the latest i-gadget.
The point of all this is actually more reflective than my tone might suggest…
If we don’t expose ourselves to the suffering of others, we will all think our own suffering, no matter how trite and trivial, is insufferable.
My advice, do something about the suffering in the world if you want your children to realize they are not in one of those categories.