I had a post on here a while back about the debate of vaccinating your child. To recap, I do vaccinate Aubrey because I believe it is better to be safe than sorry. However, I respect a parent’s right to make their own decisions for their own children.
I just thought this story was relevant to that and wanted to share it.
So this has been a long and tiring week. I have been stressed to the max because I am going to NYC for work tomorrow thru Sunday. I thought I would have Monday and Tuesday to get everything ready at the office, home and to get myself ready as well. No such luck. Aubrey has been sick, vomiting and with an ear infection since Sunday night. I have zero sick leave left but Ryan is working double shifts these two days so he can take her to and from daycare when I am gone. So I have missed two days of work, unpaid because she has been sick.
Normally this would not piss me off. I mean kids get sick, right? Except that this could have been totally avoided if certain parents cared as much about other kids’ health as they do their own. I took Aubrey to a birthday party on Saturday, and that is where she caught the stomach virus. Come to find out that one of the mom’s there adheres to the “no vaccinations, no medicine” policy of parenting. Like I have said before, to each his own. Only, I must have left out the part that says HEY IDIOT IF YOUR KID IS SICK AND YOU REFUSE TO MEDICATE THEM FOR “HEALTHY LIVING” REASONS DON’T BRING THEM TO A BIRTHDAY PARTY WITH 10 OTHER INNOCENT CHILDREN YOU FREAKING HIPPIE MORON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GRR. I am so mad. Do what you want in your own house when it comes to your kids’ health but leave mine out of it. I have been puked on over ten times in the last 48 hours. I have missed 2 days of pay. Aubrey has felt like crap and has lost over half a pound because she can’t keep anything down (and the kid is underweight as it is). I finally had to go get her a shot today bc she kept throwing up the medicine. I have spent $60 on medicine and doctor visits. I haven’t slept in two days and neither has she. And now, tomorrow I have to leave town for 4 days and she won’t know what’s going on.
For the love of God, people, protect your kids against disease and if they are sick give them medicine and oh yeah, keep them away from my kid!
So pissed.
This article is a bit long, but worth the read if you have or ever want to have children. Personally, I am on the “better safe than sorry” side of the argument but I was always of the opinion that people should be free to make their own choices on this issue. The piece brings up a good point that I hadn’t thought of before, and that is a lesson that can and should be applied to everything in life- it’s never just “my life”, what I do affects everyone around me.
I have a few friends who have chosen not to vaccinate their babies right away with the idea that they might (probably will) change their minds later when their kids get older. For a family who is able to keep the child at home, I can see how this would be the best of both worlds. Not only are you not exposing your child to these diseases by them being around other kids (daycare or school), but you are allowing their immune systems to develop a little more before you inject these vaccines into them.
For most of us, though, our children go to daycare and we put them in the nursery at church where they are exposed to all sorts of germs and childhood antics. It was a requirement for her daycare that Aubrey be vaccinated and honestly, it never even crossed my mind to opt out of these shots (since she’s in a home daycare I don’t think I could have, actually). It was very hard to watch her fat little thighs get poked with those needles and I hated how much she cried. She had a bit of a fever afterwards and was fussy, but it was nothing near the fits she throws when she’s cutting a tooth, let me tell you what!
I don’t know a lot about all the things that these vaccines are being linked to, like autism and asthma. I do know this- my sister and I both got all of our shots and we turned out fine, Aubrey is up to date on hers and she has never been sick with anything worse than an ear infection. There isn’t any science linking these diseases to vaccinations that I can find, it’s all mostly opinion. One argument is that so many more cases have been reported- but hasn’t awareness and education about things like autism been heightened so much that people are catching it earlier? Couldn’t THAT be the reason these cases have spiked?
Also, I get my dog vaccinated because I’d like to keep her around as long as possible, and my sister can share the horror stories of poor animals who contract diseases that could have been easily avoided. My dog can’t tell me what’s wrong with her if she’s sick, kind of like my baby- so why not just ward off all that frustration and pain by blocking the sickness from ever getting to them?
I’m not trying to tell anyone what they should do or saying you are harming your child if you don’t choose to vaccinate them. What I do know is this- if I found out that there was a kid in her daycare who hadn’t been innoculated and had no plans to do so, I’d probably find Aubrey another daycare. Now, this is JUST MY OPINION, not a judgment, but I do see it as a little selfish on the parent’s part to not vaccinate their kids when they go to school and then throw them in with a bunch of other kids to spread the disease if they ever got it. I know that Aubrey probably wouldn’t catch it since she has been protected, but still. The risk is there. And I have researched a bit (not a ton, but enough to solidify my decision) on the toll it takes on their little bodies if they DO get these diseases, and the worst case scenarios are horrifying. Paralysis, deafness, seizures and other things could result from childhood diseases such as polio and measles that are routine when it comes to getting shots.
I mainly posted this article because it is great at showing both sides to the story. And I’d love to hear YOUR opinion on the matter. Not to change anyone’s mind, but to see where everyone is coming from. Dialogue is good- so start talking!
UPDATE: Check out this blog to get more info on the side of those who choose not to vaccinate their children. Thanks Melissa for the link!
As a working mother from Oklahoma, I'm here to share my thoughts on everything from potty training, to social issues, to what God is teaching me through serving Him each day about all of the things we face each day. Thanks for visiting and I look forward to the discussion!
