I gotta say, I didn't think I would ever participate on these, Mostly because I'm already a 'bad' enough parent what with my formula feeding ways that i really don't need to attract any more flaming to my neck of the woods.
But.. vaccinations... This is actually one subject that kind of gets my back up and I've been trying to figure out why. So please excuse my babbling.
Usually, i don't care how parents parent. I mean their choices are theirs for their own reasons and I'm seriously from the 'what works for you should be done' camp.
I would never co-sleep (i dont understand how ya'll do it :D), but if it works for you - hey i'm not going to fault you on it. Goodnight sleep tight! I don't breastfeed nor do i think its the be all or end all of my child's health (especially since hes been sick ONCE - which i believe is very good considering I work in a germ factory - had constipation or anything bad in this 13 month existence), I also believe that its severely overrated thanks to the major swing from pro breastfeeding propaganda. Yet if you think its damn right important to breastfeed until your babe is going to school - you go ahead and do that. Put your feet up and let me get you a glass of water to keep you hydrated. Good on you for your dedication.
But vaccinations, more to the point - people
not vaccinating, just really baffles me.
After reading a
post about this on
Our Lady of Perpetual Bread Crumbs' blog about this subject I realised there are a whole lot of reasons for my bafflement.
1. Simply put, like many parenting things... Its what you do. And here in little old NZ? Its what you do.
I feel its a responsible thing to do to protect your child to the best of your ability. Saying that, I hadn't even come across the vaccination worries here that I do in posts from the United States. We were all vaccinated as children and in my opinion it only did us good.
BUT I'm not a medical professional. Nor are alot of the people harping on about how vaccinations are bad, like the ones going on about the links of autism and the MMR shot for example.I read alot, (alot alot) and I have read quite a few of the studies on this lately... but I'm really not about to walk into my doctors office (who has over 30 years of experience treating kids) and say "you know what, I think you are wrong" because of something i read on the internets or heard from some celebrity's lips.
2. I believe in herd protection. As
Perpetua talked about also, I myself feel its my duty to protect the herd. Vaccinating does not offer a 100% guarantee against disease but the more people vaccinated means the less effect these horrible illnesses have on our society.
This is probably why the subject gets my back up a little when people don't vaccinate. Your other parenting choices do not effect me in any way, just like my badass formula feeding ways do not effect you, ....but
this does for this very reason.
3. and most importantly I think, I
TRUST my health care system.
In this country vaccinations are free. My child's total health care is free until hes 6 and even then it only springs up to $20 a visit. All of our prescriptions are no more than $3 because of a government subsidy.
Until i read
Perpetua's post on this subject I didn't even really factor this into why people don't vaccinate. People in the States it seems, do not trust their health care system or their doctors or their insurance companies because of all the money they swindle.
But, as in my point 1, I'm not a medical professional and I
trust my doctor to do right by us. I
trust the NZ
vaccination schedule to do right by us.
And if anything, because they are really not getting anything out of it. As I said in a comment on Perpetua's post, why would they bother forking out all that cash so we can do this stuff for free if its just going to cost them even more later down the line when all these suspected side effects pop up?
4. It seems to trendy lately to do the opposite of what the professionals tell you to do.
Of course, I don't believe its ok to be a sleepy sheep who doesn't question anything or educate themselves on whats going on. Nor do I think its ok to sit back and let people decide what to do for you - you need to speak up if you do not like a direction your government (reasons to vote people!) or whatever is taking charge of something important to you. But at the same time, they are professionals for a reason. And you NEED to trust someone, no?
Sigh.. I dont know guys, I don't know.
