The "Amah Knows Best!" Story

The "Worry Doll"

It was an ordinary day.  Carol just gave me the good news about our granddaughter Camille.  Seems that she had no worries at all during the past week and she even drank her box of fruit juice that she had been transporting to school every day since the beginning of school, but was afraid to drink.  Now I know this may sound like nonsense to you, but to Camille and her mom, it was a big accomplishment.  Since the beginning of school, Camille was having some anxiety issues about eating in front of people.  Doctor said it would pass, but still made for a few anxious months in her household.   Most children have some issue during their youth that is troubling to them and for Camille, it has surfaced.She became afraid to eat in front of people, because she thought she may have to throw-up and this would certainly embarrass her. Camille's school even tried to help by allowing her to eat some of her noontime meals with her teacher instead of going to the cafeteria with her class.  Then, in the beginning of January, Carol and I made a visit to State College, PA to visit for a weekend with our friends Jerry and Just Sue.  The Sunday of our visit we took a trip to the Penn State University campus to see a display of lino-prints that were at the Palmer Museum of Art.  It was a fateful day in the life of our granddaughter.  After making our trip through the museum, we were looking in the museum's store when Carol showed me a small package that contained a Mayan "Worry Doll."  Tiniest thing that actually looked like a really small person.  "I think I'm going to buy this," she said to me.  "What for?" I asked her.  "For Camille!  It  says on the package that when children go to bed at night they tell one worry to the doll and then place it under their pillow.  When they wake in the morning, the doll will have taken their worry away.  It may help Camille with her anxiety."  The following week we made a scheduled visit to see our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters who live in Maryland.  Before we left, Carol gave the "Worry Doll" to Camille and told her what she needed to do so she wouldn't have to worry about eating in front of people.  That evening before she went to bed, our daughter gave Camille a small bed to place her in before she put it under her pillow, a metal Altoids Mint box.  Camille told her "Worry Doll" about what she worries about every lunchtime, put the doll in the box and put it under her pillow.  Presto!  The next day Camille came home from school and told our daughter she ate lunch in the cafeteria and didn't worry about throwing up.  It worked!  Matter-of-fact she now tells the doll other worries and it helps her get through them.  Now, our other granddaughter decided that, since it worked so well for her sister, that she should have one also.  We recently made a visit to Ten Thousand Villages near our house.  This is a Mennonite store that sells arts and crafts from third world countries to help impoverished areas in the world.  The pack of 10 dolls we found looked exactly the same, but were produced in Guatemala by women who live on the outskirts of Guatemala City in an area called "Esperanza" (Hope).  Through the sale of products such as the "Worry Dolls" they have been able to develop a community medical and dental clinic as well as a variety of worthwhile educational programs for the community.  We plan to send a few in valentine cards for everyone in the family.  Hey, everyone has worries, right?  I may even pick out one for myself to keep under my pillow.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.