The brave girl
Zola has always been good at medical things, fortunately we did not have to go many times, but without exception she has always been brave and skilful. Whether it was a medical examination, days in hospital, injections or vaccinations, she was brave and help. She was now it again. As we arrived and started school, we were visited by the school nurse. We went over what illnesses and problems she had, measured her general health and of course went over the mandatory vaccinations she had received. She got all but one of them. There is an extra vaccination that children get at this age. Since she missed it, we'll have to make it up if we don't mined. Since this vaccine that is missing will protect her from a very serious liver disease, I of course agreed to give it to her.
It is a 3 step vaccine series. She received the first one at the beginning of December and the second one today. The third and final dose will be given at the end of school.
I am very proud of her because without a word she went smartly and got vaccinated. One of the teachers accompanies her at this time, because the vaccine is given to her during school hours by the school nurse, who then watches her all day.
I love that they are so caring and so concerned about the children here. Yes you are right, that was one of the main reasons why we chose this country. Their commitment to children is impressive. Children have rights here, even though they are minors. Not like in teh middle-Europe where we come from.
There, they try to force the child to do things they don't want to on countless occasions, and the court support this behave. It doesn't matter that dozens of people stand by the child, looking out for them, caring for their safety, the law says the child doesn't matter, they have no say, they can't make decisions. Obviously it does not have to decide about war and peace, but it can decide about its own life at a level appropriate to its own age. That is what I stand for. Precisely because she's a child I don't force her to do anything. I teach her why things have to be done, for example why it is important to wash herself every day, why it is important to go to kindergarten or school, why she has to tidy his room or why she has to get dressed when it is cold. But I will never tell her that you have to love a stranger who is legally your relative, and in reality, -if it was up to him-, you would have died a long time ago because he never cared about you. I never forced her to be with this man if she didn't want to, I never pushed her away from me while she was hugging me tight and crying that she didn't want to go. And I was obliged to, threatened, reported. One time they tried to force the sobbing baby out of my hug. The lady realized her mistake in time she was about to make. A mother, a real mother, will protect her child in anyway.
Zola knows this. She trusts me, so when I tell her to be brave because you're going to get the vaccine, but everything is going to be fine, she believes in me. This is the difference between a blood relative and a parent.