How poverty hurts our children most

I grew up in multicultural Hawaiʻi, where traditions from all over the Pacific Rim often acquire new cultural meanings long after losing their original purposes. During my childhood years, my family and I spent many a weekend attending baby luʻau hosted by family, friends, and coworkers. To commemorate their babies' first birthdays, many parents in Hawaiʻi throw community-wide celebrations featuring traditional Hawaiian delicacies and fare. In ancient Hawaiʻi, where child mortality rates were high, Hawaiian families often waited until their child's first birthday to pick a name for their little boy or girl. In today's Hawaiʻi, parents no longer need to worry about whether their baby will live to reach their early milestones. Like most of us in the developed world, we take it for granted that our keiki--our sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, and younger siblings--will grow up to live happy and healthy childhoods.

Regardless of our ethnic or cultural background, families in Hawaiʻi still like to celebrate our children through traditional luʻau feasts. Thankfully, the baby luʻau no longer serves as a public announcement that the perilous years of childhood are behind us. We've repurposed this feast as a community celebration of the rich and full lives that we want our children to have as they learn and grow.

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