{"id":1050,"date":"2012-07-29T21:35:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-29T21:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/areasontosmile\/?p=1050"},"modified":"2012-07-29T21:53:02","modified_gmt":"2012-07-29T21:53:02","slug":"qa-should-vaccinating-your-child-be-a-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/07\/qa-should-vaccinating-your-child-be-a-choice.html","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: \u2018Should vaccinating your child be a choice?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
What’s the right choice?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Question\u00a0submitted via Formspring<\/a>:
\n\u201cShould vaccinating your child be a choice? A while back a one-year-old girl in my neighborhood contracted and died of measles after playing in the park with a boy whose mother didn’t believe in vaccinations. It scares me from taking my kid out in public.\u201d<\/p>\n

We talked about this on a recent episode of\u00a0Rise UP with B. Dave Walters<\/a>, along with: Kids, Love, and Family! How to raise confident, happy children; why you have trouble losing weight, how to deal with family drama, how to deal with haters you’re related to, Q&A, and much, much, more!<\/p>\n

The simple answer to this question is: yes, vaccinating your children should absolutely be a choice.\u00a0 If you find you disagree with that statement, imagine if the opposite were true: if anyone was FORCING you to do anything you felt wasn\u2019t in your child\u2019s best interest.<\/p>\n

Before we dive too deeply into this one, let\u2019s take a closer look at the question, which speaks to the real issue behind the vaccination debate: fear.\u00a0 The question says \u201cA while back a one-year-old girl in my neighborhood contracted and died of measles after playing in the park with a boy whose mother didn’t believe in vaccinations\u201d; how do you know?\u00a0 When was \u2018a while back\u2019?\u00a0 Who was this little girl, or this little boy? How do you know she got the measles from this one little boy, or that his mother didn\u2019t believe in vaccinations?\u00a0 Was the little girl vaccinated, and if not, why not? Did her mother not believe in vaccinations?<\/p>\n

While it certainly seems tragic, this is the type of story that seems like an urban legend; like the group of people who went into the mountains and the monster ate them all\u2026and no one ever returned Well, if no one ever returned, how could there have been a story about a monster? Again, fear is the underpinning of the debate: fear that if you don\u2019t vaccinate your kids, they\u2019ll give sick and die.\u00a0 Or if you DO vaccinate them, they\u2019ll get sick and die, become autistic, or all sorts of other \u201cterrible\u201d things.\u00a0 For instance, many people still believe there is a relationship between vaccinations and autism, even though there is absolutely no proof that this is the case.\u00a0\u00a0Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the doctor who initially made the claim has been thoroughly discredited and disbarred<\/a>.\u00a0 Even so, roughly 1 in 10 children is born with some kind of autism spectrum disorder\u2026which means 9 out of 10 aren\u2019t.\u00a0 90% likelihood that everything will be fine is not bad odds, not to mention the implication that an autistic child can\u2019t have a wonderful fulfilling life; especially when compared with them potentially dying to a disease that could have been easily avoided.<\/p>\n

So, should you vaccinate your children, or not?
\nThat is completely up to you. There is a lot of money in forcing medication down all our throats, and a lot of fear based manipulation on all sides of the debate.\u00a0 The reality is, parenting is the hardest job in the world that you get no training for; it is up to you to become educated and informed about what is in your child\u2019s best interest.\u00a0 This means weighing all sides of an issue, and consulting with trusted advisors before making your decision.\u00a0 However, for the record: in our household we chose to vaccinate our children for common and preventable illnesses, such as the measles, but tend to skip the vaccines aimed at the terrible plague of the moment, like West Nile, SARS, Mad Cow, etc.<\/p>\n

You are great, and I love you!
\nAnd if you love me back, click ‘share’ up at the top!<\/p>\n

B. Dave Walters Writer, Life Coach, and Talk Radio Host<\/p>\n

Find out more about me:\u00a0http:\/\/about.me\/BDaveWalters<\/a><\/p>\n

Ask me anything:\u00a0http:\/\/formspring.me\/BDaveWalters<\/a><\/p>\n

Pages I support:
\nJesus and Buddha<\/a>\u00a0— Interfaith dialog<\/p>\n

Gnostic Theism<\/a>\u00a0— Religion and Spirituality for the 21st Century (Join the Movement!)<\/p>\n

Love One Another<\/a>\u00a0— A group for the coolest Spiritual people on the Internet!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question\u00a0submitted via Formspring: \u201cShould vaccinating your child be a choice? A while back a one-year-old girl in my neighborhood contracted and died of measles after playing in the park with a boy whose mother didn’t believe in vaccinations. It scares me from taking my kid out in public.\u201d We talked about this on a recent…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":450,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,55,80,39,114,29,81,38,31,28,112,41,48,78],"tags":[3,34,13,12,115,11,70,36,14,23,26,25,24,5,42,50],"class_list":["post-1050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication","category-emotions-2","category-family","category-fear","category-guilt","category-happiness","category-healing","category-hope-inspiration","category-love-2","category-peace","category-pessimism","category-positive-thinking","category-spirituality","category-worry","tag-b-dave-walters","tag-breakthroughs","tag-change","tag-emotions","tag-family","tag-gnostic-theism","tag-guilt","tag-hope","tag-life-coach","tag-love","tag-peacelovemoney-com","tag-psychology","tag-relationships","tag-rise-up","tag-self-talk","tag-spiritual-but-not-religious"],"yoast_head":"\nQ&A: \u2018Should vaccinating your child be a choice?\u2019 - A Reason to Smile<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Q&A: \u2018Should vaccinating your child be a choice?\u2019 - A Reason to Smile\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question\u00a0submitted via Formspring: \u201cShould vaccinating your child be a choice? 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