A question of food

This time last year I was starting to think about weaning. I read a few books and about a million articles online and decided, in a rather New Age way, to try out Baby-led Weaning.

This isn’t a post about Baby-led Weaning.

No, what I would like to talk about is all those mothers who don’t have the luxury of obsessing over whether their baby will be puree fed or go straight to solids. Those mums who can’t worry if  it’s too soon to introduce a bread stick or whether all pear should be peeled, because they’re more worried about when they will next be able to feed their child, let alone what that food will actually be.

I have laughed about how messy Frog’s journey with food has been. I’ve celebrated her ability to eat (and throw) everything. I’ve sat proudly while she’s cleared her plate at a restuarant and I’ve worried fruitlessly about when she’ll get any good at using a knife and fork.

But all that’s inconsequential really. She’s always had food. She’s never gone hungry. She doesn’t even know what hungry feels like.

But the same can’t be said for 400,000 children around the world who face major food shortages. Recent price hikes mean the crisis is particularly bad in East Africa, where 750,00 people face death by hunger.

Save The Children are campaigning to end this. They want the UK government to sign up to the Charter to End Extreme Hunger. This Charter calls on governments to take life-savng measures to protect children around the world. So far over 6,000 people have signed it.

Save The Children are now asking people to take the campaign up a level, with their #66Cities project. They want people to champion their cities, write to their MPs, encourage other people to sign the petition.

I know I can’t do much on my little blog. But you can.

So I have this idea:

• Share a picture of your child covered in food eating beautifully on your blog. Then ask your readers to sign the petition asking for David Cameron to support the Charter to End Extreme Hunger.
• Tweet about it, using the #66Cities hashtag.
• If you want to, come back and link your post here. I will tweet it too and shout about it a bit (I have a rather loud voice).

I can’t make a difference on my own, but together we can. Remember, no child is born to die.

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