The year is passing quickly. I can’t believe that March is already almost upon us.
My new Dutch passport arrived last week via FedEx. Thank God; I’m no longer trapped. A rather nervous sensation envelops me when I’m unable to travel, especially when I happen to be already abroad.
Today, our cloth nappies and their covers arrived, along with a BabyBjörn carrier. The nappies look so cosy; I can’t wait to put Franbert in one. Changing and washing them will be quite another matter, of course.
We also have a couple of slings on order and Sarah is frantically knitting away with a job lot of wool she purchased on eBay. I suppose you know your wife is technologically advanced when she buys her wool on eBay.
Yesterday, we visited and interviewed a holistic pediatrician, something of a rarity in the overmedicated western world. It’s nice to be hooked up with a pediatrician who doesn’t advocate innoculations and pumping your newly born baby full of mercury. Whilst not injecting one’s pride and joy with mercury sounds like the obvious thing to do, you’d be surprised what the power of convention and a naïve, ovine faith in persons in authority can achieve.
Our pregnancy class starts next week. That should be fun. I’m looking forward to meeting other expectant parents and learning new things.
Finally, it recently came to my attention that 57% of newly born baby boys are still circumcised in the US. I’m stunned! This barbaric practice has no place in the 21st century, yet many parents still automatically have it performed, often with no profounder thought for the matter than to mimic what was done to them.
“Well, if my foreskin was lopped short, causing great pain, mutilating my genitals and reducing sexual feeling, then it must be OK. After all, it hasn’t done me any harm.”
Like I said, I’m consistently surprised at how prevalent the herd mentality is, even amongst educated people. In this country, at least, education is no guarantee of enlightenment.
Male circumcision in the US was at more than 90% in the 70s, compared with 6% in the UK in 1975. Whilst the US figure has recently fallen to 57% for newly born baby boys, this still amounts to 80% of the male population in this country.
I was unable to find a percentage for The Netherlands. Most of my searches for circumcision turned up documents about female circumcision amongst ethnic Muslim minorities. Of course, female circumcision is completely illegal, but there are also moves afoot to outlaw male circumcision in The Netherlands. I couldn’t agree more with the motivation: mutilating your baby should be a criminal offence and adherence to anachronistic religious practices is no excuse.
There are still a few valid medical reasons for circumcision, such as phimosis, but the patient is at least old enough to voice his concerns in such cases. I just don’t have the imagination to put myself in the shoes of someone who believes that today, in the 21st century, there’s a valid reason to remove a part of your child’s genitalia.
It’s a strange world we live in.