Would You Allow Your 8-Year-Old to Work?
Of course, the answer to this is NO! Then why is it ok for the children of China to work and manufacture YOUR children's toys, clothes, bedding, etc.? When I opened my boutique this year, I was determined to not have anything in my boutique to be "MADE IN CHINA". That ended up being a lot harder than I thought. It took a ton of research. 80%-90% of all goods are produced totally or partially in China. I was floored!!!!
I'm not ignorant. But I don't think that many of us realized the magnitude of this because we are so used to it. It is one of those things that we complain about but continue to do. The China problems really is OUR fault. So, I found paper mills in Penn. I had a wall to build, and it was hard to find materials made in the U.S.A. Instead of taking a few minutes to order the first 20 that up on Google, I had to search for an hour. I did pay a little more. But I got it faster.
The thing I find disheartening is how protective we are of our children, how we talk about the rights and protecting ALL children. How has this gotten ignored? Price of goods? Making your child happy? What is it? I ask because this is why we have the problems with China (in my opinion). We give up cheap goods for the safety of the Chinese children. But that gets thrown out the window because of the price we want something for.
According to https://www.dol.gov list of goods produced by child labor or forced labor is staggering. And it goes against what we all say. We want child trafficking to stop but there are reports that children 8-17 are forced to work. Some of the biggest names on this list are Hasbro, Mattel, Disney, Target, WalMart, and Cosco. I personally only shop from one of these. WalMart does buy some products from China, but it is disclosed per product at the bottom of the description. I look. Always do. If it is made in China, I will look for another product made in the U.S.A. The other companies are not that transparent. They try to hide it. Why? If you're ashamed, then you shouldn't be getting products from there.
The toys that your children are playing with, chewing on, sleeping with have a 56% chance of being from China. And 70%-80% of all toys are made in mainland China. Which means that you have a good chance of giving your child a toy that was made by a child YOUR child's age. I cannot imagine my 13-year-old working a 10-hour day and trying to go to school. Or worse, taken from her home to be forced to work.
I have heard my whole life, "why can't the U.S.A. just make things and sell them"? Sadly, we all know the answer to that, PRICE. It is just simply cheaper to have things made in China. Then you hear "money isn't everything". Really? Sure seems like it is. I think when it comes to this, that it has been such a part of our lives, that we ignore the fact that China is a communist country. That they can treat their children as horrible as they want. We all have the choice, but most choose the cheap price over humanity.
I am going to continue to spend a little more and spend more time researching to find things for my boutique that is NOT made in China. I do not order from Amazon; I am a label reader. We, as a whole, have gotten lazy because of all the conveniences we have created. But what is the price for those conveniences? I cannot support child labor. And ignoring where your products come from inadvertently does that.
Woobies are made in the U.S.A. in Sanford, Florida. I make them with my American hands. I try beyond try not to get anything from anywhere but the U.S.A. The only way to pull ourselves out of this is to take back our control and stop letting "leaders" tell us what we want. https://www.woobies.shop
I am going to be doing a follow up to this blog post about the best U.S.A. companies to buy from, so stay tuned.
Woobies
Made in U.S.A.
Carter's
Made in China
Same price.......just sayin