Shot@Life - Parenting No Brainers

Parenting No Brainers

June 12, 2012 BY Jim Lin

The moment I discovered that I would be a dad, a fundamental shift occurred in my self perception. I suddenly mattered. Everything I did (and didn't do) from here on out would impact the life of a soon-to-be little being, and it would do so for the rest of my life. Heavy, man. Not something I could just sleep off with a glass of water.

Now that I'm a decade into it, with two not-so-little beings hanging on my every move, not to mention my legs, neck, back, arms and credit cards, I've learned to savor every right decision I make. And since those often require more effort, thinking, trial and error than I would care to admit, I love it when life lobs the no-brainers at me.

Like the first round of questions on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, these are the decisions that you can confidently make without phoning a friend. I'm sure some of these ring a bell...

"You are not getting on that bike without a helmet!" (Ok, ok... I'll buy you one with cool flames on it. And skulls. Fine, and the shoes to match. But put that helmet on!)

"No, you can't dig into that second bag of Halloween candy. I'm cutting you off!" (And for safekeeping, I'll take it to my room. Ooooh, Twix!)

"You have to finish your homework before you can come fishing with me." (What?? 10 pages? Let me get my calculator...)

"I want to see all your vegetables gone." (Fine, you can have some cheese sauce. And ketchup. M&Ms? Are you serious, kid? Ok... but I want to see them gone.)

"You need to get some exercise. Go outside and play." (What’s that? Well, it is kind of hot out. Yes, I know Toys R Us is air conditioned... and they have aisles you could walk up and down... ok, but I insist that you put on your seatbelt!)

Like I said, there are certain ideas that you simply know are right. And I'm going to throw in one more: all children, no matter where they live, deserve a shot at being a ninja, or anything else they can dream up. Helping to make that happen through Shot@Life is a definite no brainer.

Shot@Life is a campaign of the United Nations Foundation which aims to vaccinate children in developing countries against diseases that are so preventable that I've only encountered them in tales that use words like ye and thou, and are full of typos like olde. Sadly, not only are these dieases very real, they take the life of a child every 20 seconds. Don't even try to count that off in your head. It'll surely incite the "parent crazy" in you. Instead, use those precious 20 second intervals to actually help Shot@Life get essential vaccines to the children who need them. Here are a few simple things you can do:

Donate what you'd spend at work on lunches for a couple days ($20) and use it give a child a lifetime of immunity to protect her from pneumonia, diarrhea, polio and measles.
Even just $5 ensures that one child is polio and measles-free for life.
Or how about 5 minutes? That's all it takes to learn about the movement and take the Shot@Life pledge.
And if you cannot do any of the above, simply lend them your voice by spreading the word about this important effort on all your social media channels. You're using them anyway – why not use them to save the life of children?

My fellow parents, those are some no-brainers indeed. As for me, I'll be in the corner, sewing up a few hundred ninja suits.

POSTED IN: Parenthood