Why does the U.S. rank second-to-last in child well-being?

Question

Can't the richest country in the world take care of its children? Or is all the money going to bombs?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/6360517.stm

The Netherlands is more diverse than America, nazi.

Taxes are much higher in the Netherlands, Iraqisax.

Answer 1

amen to that buddy let me tell you i have tried to contact my local government about our horrible daycare situation it's terrible the number of children to child care provider is unbelievable for 2 year olds it's 12 kids to 1 child care provider add two for older kids and take 2 away for 1 year olds , the class size is also a big issue (small space ) and in our area there has been several accidents with serious injuries that the effects of will last life times , one center has even locked a kid on a bus for 4 1/2 hours and didn't notice till the mom came to pick him up and than they tried to cover it up and THAN people found out that most of the care provider's at that center didn't ever have a background check's done on them so aaahhhhh i know ( the kid locked on the bus was okay but had it not been rainy and cloudy that day it could have been tragic it's hot hot here in fl) anyway i've written emailed and gotten petetions signed by a few hundred parents and i haven't heard anything but they just passed this law to take cars away from unliscenced drivers but none of these politicians will do any thing for us and the reason is you can't make any money from kids but they can profit big from taking and impounding them and charging people an arm and a leg it's all about money IT makes ME craZY aaaaahhhhhh

Answer 2

Why do you equate being financially rich with having a "rich" childhood?

Since when does that work out?

Hmmm.. Rich kids... Spoiled, unsociable, pompous, ...

Not everyone of course, but it's all how you look at it.

Seriously, though. What does having money have to do with anything? You can be rich and have a great childhood. You can be rich and have a crap childhood.

I think the reason why so many U.S. kids are growing up poorly is that there country is at war and it sure doesn't feel like it at home. How can anyone even relate to a war going on? The U.S. is seriously at war, yet it is so far removed from the kids that they think it's a video game. I personally think that the U.S. media has to do a flip-flop and have the guts enough to put U.S. deaths on the TV screen.

I spent some times overseas where such bans didn't occur. It gives you a totally different perspective when you see American soldiers caught in Iraq, literally crying to be let go. Who in the U.S. saw that? Nobody, because there's this belief that it's demoralizing and doesn't help anything. I also saw dead American soldiers being dragged through the street.

The war is so far removed, yet it does have an effect. The government is totally focussed on it. It's all you ever hear politicians ever talking about. They just say the other issues, then get right to the chase: war. A country whose leaders are obsessed with war can't also be thinking about the welfare of their own citizens.

Hypocracy too. Kids grow up with a leader who's a hypocrite. They know he lies. They know that young soldiers go to war, but he stays at home.

It's no surprise that the U.K. and U.S. are at the bottom of the ranking list. They're the countries both doing the same thing.

Answer 3

Well you have to consider the definition of well-being. If we are talking about material needs, that would be strange indeed but if we are talking about emotional needs that would make complete sense. America's culture, in my opinion, is quite self-centered because everyone thinks we have a right to that. Therefore parents are as well and would rather put their needs before their child's thus leaving the child with a whole bunch of toys but no actual love. You also have to remember that America is multi-cultural. Children of immigrants are often torn between two cultures and that could have a serious affect on their mental well-being. That I can vouch for. As for bombs, lets be realistic, yes much money goes to war but still a substantial amount goes to the country as well.

Answer 4

I think part of it might be the egregious class separation in this country. There's a huge population in inner city slums, and in poor rural environments - almost third world. After travelling around the US and seeing this sort of thing first-hand, I'm not surprised that the US ranked so poorly. I mean seriously, there are people in the US who live in tin shacks with no running water. This sort of thing doesn't exist in the Netherlands, or in Denmark. Americans need to wake up to this problem.

Answer 5

The public school system is a big part of it. Then, there is the high taxes that make it necessary for so many women (mothers) to work, rather than to raise their children. Another factor is the decline of the traditional two parent (man and woman) family.

The entertainment that kids see on TV, the movies and what they hear on the radio.

Answer 6

Because we let business and corporations have too much say in our culture. And we fund too much of our tax money to the military instead of into our communities. We let corporations dictate our health care so only a few people have health care to give to their childern. We have huge amounts of smog in L.A which has dramatically increased the amounts of asthma and other respiratory diseases in children who live here. We have too much junk food provided by food corporations in the school cafeterias and too many candy, coke and junk food machines provided by corporations in the schools. And, we don't give a crap enough about kids to make sure every child has a decent school to go to and decent after school programs. And, the parents don't take enough control of their kids at home (diet, t.v, computer, and not enough family time). Our culture is all talk about family values and caring about kids, but when it comes to walking the walk and talking the talk, our culture is pro profit and pro corporation over kids and community every time.

Answer 7

I went to the UNICEF website, downloaded the report (52 pages) and read it. It's really all a bunch of nonsense, a ridiculously subjective report that doesn't say much about anything (other than kids in Britain drink A LOT more than kids anywhere else). A lot of the report is also based upon the kids' realities and expectations, and you know how that goes...

Answer 8

We blast anything that even hints of socialism. We don't take care of Americans, the age group doesn't matter. It's incredible when comparing America to other countries.

Answer 9

because people stopped being parents and started being "friends". They don't discipline the children, blame their ignorance on the teachers. Blame the violence on tv and music, and their attitudes on "just being kids". Instead of instilling some decent qualities in kids, they let them act like heathens, smoke and drink under 12 and let them have babies by 13.
We have made it to the point financially both parents have got to work to keep up with their neighbors and the kids are losing out.
Instead of blaming the Govt. Try blaming the parents, who want kids but don't want to work for them!

Answer 10

So the Dutch kids are spoiled by their parents and their teachers don't expect much from them. Hmmmmm.....who's smokin' now? Seems to me that that is a recipe for disaster. But then again, I'm not as enlightened as the UN. The Dutch are going to find out that catering to these kids was a mistake. If you don't expect much you won't get much. Gosh, I know I'm impressed.