Made in China

My girls have chores to help out around the house. Alayna is responsible for unloading the dishwasher, sweeping the kitchen floor, putting her clothes away, and keeping her room clean. Lilly is in charge of putting the silverware away, helping to keep the shoes in order in the entryway and putting her clothes away, as well as helping me keep her room tidy. All the girls are responsible for keeping their toys, games, and books cleaned up and put away. Yes, even Mikayla gets into it and sings The Clean Up song while carrying one toy at a time to her older sisters.

So where am I going with this? The truth, sadly. Alayna was unloading the dishwasher (the last load to be washed in our old, inefficient, leaky washer, mind you...) and this conversation ensued.

Alayna: Mom, can I ask you something?

Me (checking e-mail while all the daycare kids were napping): Hmmm, sure honey, what's up?

A: Why is everything made in China?

M: What?

A: Why is everything made in China? Almost everything has "Made in China" on the bottom of it. Why don't we make stuff here in the US?

M: Well, because it's cheaper to make things in China, unfortunately. But hopefully more things will start being made in the US again. It will help the country make more money.

A: Yeah, that'd be cool. So China makes like 200 things a year and the US only, like, 50?

M: Yeah, something like that.

Remember, she is only 7, so to her 200 is a heck of a lot. I just didn't have the heart to tell her it was probably more like 200,000 or 200,000,000 things a year. Sometimes, kids say and ask the questions that us adults just won't ask. So next time you're at the store, think like Alayna and ask yourself "Why is everything made in China?" Then look for the Made in America symbol, if you can find one. Sometimes they simply aren't there...