[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 183 (Friday, November 17, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2215-E2216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BABY SAFETY SHOWERS

                                 ______


                          HON. HENRY A. WAXMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 17, 1995

  Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, no challenge we face in our lives is greater 
than raising our children. As a father, I know those challenges well. 
That is why I was so impressed by an event recently attended by the 
First Lady, and the contribution that event could make in the lives of 
new parents around the country.
  Mrs. Clinton spoke at a Baby Safety Shower put on by the Consumer 
Product Safety Commission--a Federal agency responsible for keeping 
families safe in and around their homes. The CPSC knows that being a 
parent does not come with an instruction manual. Being a parent means 
on-the-job training.
  The CPSC also knows that more children die from accidental injuries 
than from childhood diseases. So CPSC Chairman Ann Brown determined to 
get information to new parents about hidden safety hazards in the home 
that could present a danger to infants and toddlers. Her idea was to 
mount a national campaign to encourage day-care centers, community 
organizations, and families to give new mothers a baby shower with a 
twist--a shower incorporating critical safety information.
  The first such shower was held here in Washington on October 25 at 
the Edward Mazique Parent Child Center, and Mrs. Clinton came to help 
host the shower. She made some outstanding remarks to the more than 80 
mothers gathered there, and I would like to enter those remarks into 
the Record.

   Remarks by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at the U.S. Consumer 
   Product Safety Commission's Kick-Off of ``Baby Safety Showers,'' 
                             Washington, DC

       Mrs. CLINTON: Thank you very much. I'm delighted to be 
     here. I think this is a very important event. I want to thank 
     Gerber and everyone associated with Gerber foods for their 
     commitment to this baby safety effort. I want to thank Ann 
     Brown and everyone associated with the Commission for their 
     leadership on all of these issues about how we keep our 
     babies safe.
       I'm pleased to be here at this child care center. The 
     Mazique Center is well known around not only in this area, 
     but throughout the country for its many years of superb care 
     for the children of the District of Columbia.
       Now there are some, I would guess who would think that 
     talking about a baby safety shower is something that doesn't 
     deserve a lot of attention. That it is a nice thing to do, 
     but not as important as some of the really big issues of our 
     time.
       Well I can only say that there is nothing more important 
     than our children and there is nothing more important to any 
     parent than keeping our babies and our children safe and 
     secure as much as we are able to do so.
        I have found as I've travelled throughout the country 
     talking with parents exactly what Ann said she had found. 
     Many of us just don't know everything we need to know to keep 
     our babies secure. And part of the reason I'm here today is 
     to reinforce the message of this baby safety shower. To 
     encourage people all over the country that when they have a 
     pregnant friend, pregnant daughter, when they themselves are 
     pregnant that they will think about safety issues.
       It's always nice to get the cute little clothes that people 
     give for a baby, but I think it's more important to give some 
     of the kinds of products we saw demonstrated upstairs that 
     will keep baby's little fingers out of outlets, will keep 
     them from--I just learned lifting up the toilet bowl [lid] 
     and drowning which can happen, keep them safe in their cribs, 
     keep the little toys out of their mouths. Those kinds of 
     gifts that we can give one another and that every parent 
     would be glad to receive are what I hope will be flooding 
     into all of the lives of parents in our country because of 
     this initiative.
       I know that it is very difficult for parents to feel that 
     they can control everything that happens to their babies in 
     today's world, because the world is complex, it is 
     challenging, and in many respects more dangerous than it has 
     been in the past. That's why trying to make our homes safe is 
     something that is 

[[Page E 2216]]
     within our control. We can't control what happens on the street corner. 
     We can't control whether or not our child will be safe all 
     the time when he or she leaves our house. But to the best of 
     our ability, we can try to make our child safe indoors, in 
     our own homes.
       I also think that the work that is being done here on the 
     baby safety showers will very clearly point out that there is 
     a need for all of us, together to cooperate to help parents 
     raising children.
       You know I'm finishing a book that I'm writing called ``It 
     Takes a Village to Raise a Child'' which is after an old 
     african proverb.
       Some people have come to me and said, ``Why are you writing 
     that book?'' ``Parents know already what they're supposed to 
     do!'' And I said, ``I didn't.'' I didn't get an instruction 
     manual when my daughter was born. And much of it was trial by 
     error and luckily I had family and friends and other people 
     who were there for me telling me what I needed to do to keep 
     my baby safe and healthy.
       Other people have said, ``Why are you saying it takes a 
     village to raise a child? It's the family's responsibility.'' 
     Well of course it's the family's responsibility. But the 
     family does not exist in a vacuum today. The family exist in 
     the greater world. The family needs commissions, and 
     businesses, and child care centers and schools, and doctors 
     and hospitals. The family needs a lot of support from ``the 
     village'' in order for the family to do the best possible job 
     it can do.
       And that's what this baby safety shower is about. It's 
     about people coming together to help parents do a good job. 
     I've never met a parent who set out not to do a good job. 
     I've met parents overwhelmed by the circumstances of their 
     lives, facing difficult odds that I cannot even imagine. 
     Having problems because of their own childhood or their own 
     situations. But I have never met a parent that did not want 
     to do the best job he or she could do as a father or a 
     mother. And what we have to do is give parents and families 
     the tools so they can be the best mothers and fathers. So it 
     really does take a village. It takes the Consumer Product 
     Safety Commission and Gerber Foods and the Mazique Child 
     Care Center and a lot of other people to help parents and 
     families because after all, we in our country give a lot 
     of lip service to how important we think our children 
     are--don't we? You can hear it everyday on the news. But 
     too often we don't translate that into action. And some of 
     the actions we need to take are very small ones. Like 
     putting your baby on her back instead of on her stomach, 
     making sure she can't get through the slats of the crib.
       Some of them are a little bigger. Making sure that if you 
     have child care needs they are met in a good place where your 
     child will be stimulated and cared for while you're at work.
       And some of them get a little bigger. Believing that the 
     school that your child goes to is the right place and that 
     teachers care about your child.
       And some of them get then even bigger, trying to keep your 
     neighborhood safe, getting rid of gangs, and drug dealers and 
     the drive-by shooters. All of the dangers that exist in too 
     many areas of communities or too many of our children.
       And sometimes what we have to do to keep our baby safe is 
     even bigger than that.
       About the kind of values that we have as a country. Whether 
     we really do care about parents and families. And that means 
     keeping the social safety need in place. Making sure that 
     people who need health care will get health care by keeping 
     medicaid available for families who need it.
       One in four of our children rely on Medicaid. We would not 
     as a family say that one in four of our children didn't 
     deserve health care. We would try to take care of all of 
     them. So when we think about all that we can do as parents 
     and all that everyone else should do to help us be the best 
     possible parents, I believe we're on the right road to making 
     sure all of us feel responsible not only for our own baby but 
     for every baby.
       Any baby that dies because of a product that did not have 
     to cause that baby's death is not just a loss for that 
     family, but it is a loss for all of us. So any baby we save 
     because of these products is a baby that we save for 
     everybody.
       So I want to thank all the people who are focusing on this 
     issue and I hope families all over America will have baby 
     safety showers and talk to each other, educate each other 
     about what we need to do to keep all of our babies safe and 
     healthy.

                          ____________________