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So did you get your 2010 Census in the mail? Did you fill it out and mail it back? According to the 2010 Census Take 10 participation map, 22% of the households in my neighborhood have done just that. Not that good but then again we are doing better than the 16% state-wide.

I took the time last week to fill out the Big Top's census data and mail it in. Ten years ago I didn't and, yes, the census worker did come calling. I had every intention in filling out the form...really, I did. It's just thatjuggling got in the way. I tossed the form on my desk telling myself that I would sit down and fill it out later. Later never came and the formwas quickly lost buried under bills, catalogues, PTA notices and letters from my Dad. So this time around I was determined that I would fill it out and get it in the mail.

The questions were easy enough to answer for me. But then I got to the questions about the other family members living here under the Big Top, the questions about my circus clowns, my children. Suddenly I found myself stuck on question #2, "How is this person related to person #1?". Well, they each are my children. That seems simple enough. But according to the 2010 Census, it isn't that simple. No, I must check off  whether they are my children by birth or by adoption. How does this information help my community? How does knowing whether my children share the same DNA as me help to determine the disbursal of $400 billion dollars of Federal funding for:

• hospitals
• job training centers
• schools
• senior centers
• bridges, tunnels and other public works projects
• emergency services

I just don't see how this information helps the Federal government. I don't have to share that information with my children's schools, unless I choose to. Why do I have to share this information on the census form? For the record, our family of seven was completed by birth AND by adoption and while we certainly celebrate that and make no secret of that fact, I still dislike the need to separate and differentiate my children biological and adopted, real and not. The day that our son's adoption was finalized, the judge told us that from now and forever he was and always would be our child in the eyes of the law...the law in county of Santa Clara in the state of California in the United States of America. 

Yes, this question irritated me. It irriates me that I am expected to differentiate whether I gave birth to my children or not. They all are equally my children in my heart, in my mind, in my soul...in the eyes of the law. I'm hard pressed to think of any rationale for this differentiation and my quick on-line search didn't reveal the answer either. 

So I after a little thought, I crossed out all the differentiations and wrote in "this person is my child", completed the rest of the survey and mailed it off to be counted. I do believe that it is important to be counted. My husband teased me that the census worker will likely be coming to visit again because I refused to answer question #2 for four of our children who still live here under the Big Top. Well, if they do I will be happy to share with them my irritation with that question and why I refused to answer it. If they REALLY need to know perhaps they can explain to me why they need to know and how will this data be used to benefit our family in this community.

So did you send your census form back? 

More juggling adventures can be found at my personal blog, Adventures In Juggling