This is your warning: this is a controversial post. My intention is NOT to create an aggressive discussion, or any rude posts/comments at all about if you should vaccinate or not vaccinate your child; it is simply to bring awareness about the way we talk about vaccinations. If you do not have anything nice to say, please don’t say anything at all. You are 100% entitled to your opinion and I respect that; however, this is MY space and I intend for it to be a safe one.
Sometimes I watch or read the news. Sometimes I don’t. I find the latter to be more accurate because I find the news honestly just depresses me. My social media platforms frequently show news articles that I would be interested in; things like maternal care, postpartum depression, breastfeeding, midwifery, animals, etc. Lately, the topic of vaccinations have come up.
The other day I saw a friend post about the dangers of vaccines. The comments following the mentioned post were highly opinionated, and done passive aggressively to “shame” the mother who posted it. I found this incredibly rude and so unnecessary. It’s like as soon as you become a mother or father, the world thinks it is entitled to have an opinion about everything you choose to do or not do. It is not! It drives me nuts.
First off, my personal choice was to vaccinate my child. Had I wish I done more research? Yes, absolutely, but I personally believed that decision to be the best for my child. I tried my very best to keep my own opinions/beliefs out of this article and remain neutral. What I want to bring awareness to is HOW we speak to each other on the topic of vaccines. What you choose to do with your child is absolutely none of my business, nor the worlds business. Nor do I get to judge you on how you do things with your child. People are naturally judgmental; that is a fact of life. However, if we start to change the way we think and focus more on our own personal life then I guarantee that there would be a lot less mom/dad guilt and people would generally be happier.
There is plenty research on vaccinations, both published and unpublished research. The Government of Canada website provides information about the benefits, dangers, ingredients, etc on vaccines. I only just discovered this because Jake actually decided to do some research himself. There have been numerous documentaries on pro-vaccinations and documentaries about how vaccinations can cause diseases such as Epilepsy and Autism Spectrum Disorder. This post is not to discuss whether these claims are true or not. Instead, why don’t we talk about the importance of support and informed decision for mothers and fathers.
When I see someone post a comment about how choosing not to vaccinate your child is selfish and disgusting, it makes me disgusted in you. What gave you permission to try to change a parent’s mind on a choice they probably spent endless hours researching? When did you decide that it was okay to not only challenge a parents choice about their own kid, but to also degrade and shame them in the process? It goes both ways, both people who vaccinate and don’t vaccinate continually bully each other online. I understand that people become very passionate regarding this subject, but at the end of the day you probably aren’t going to change a persons mind, especially not by bullying them into thinking that your way is the only way.
In nursing school we were told that people must vaccinate their children and to promote it as much as we can. In basically every health care sector this is the case. I myself received numerous phone calls from the public health nurse ensuring I had booked my child in for their vaccinations. It is not the health care workers job to judge a person on their own choices; rather, it is their job to provide them with ALL the information necessary to make an informed decision. Why don’t we focus more on that? That means providing information on both the good, bad and ugly. That way, that parent is capable of making the right decision for their own child and family. When a parent has been provided with the information required to make an informed decision, they feel supported and more confident in their parenting choices. This is a great thing. Instead of using the approach of “well, vaccinations cause Autism” or the guilt trip “how would you feel if you didn’t vaccinate your child and they ended up having measles and dying?” why not try saying something like “if you have some questions I read this great study about…” or “it’s great that you were able to do lots of research before making your decision.” Or, if you absolutely can’t refrain from debating this topic, just walk away from the opportunity before it is even an opportunity. This way the parent will not feel attacked or ashamed, and instead hopefully will feel respected and supported.
So, basically what I’m trying to say is that we need to support mothers and fathers in the decisions that they are making, whether or not we agree with them. Of course, we are entitled to our own opinion, and that is a beautiful thing. However, when you raise awareness on a specific cause pro-vaccination or not, I don’t feel that another parent should be put down because their choice is different than your own. Being a parent is the hardest job in the world, and when you add in the opinions of others it makes it even more complicated. I know I can’t change the way people act, but if you read this my message is to simply be more aware of how we approach sensitive topics such as vaccinations. Informed decision and support to all parents is what is MOST important here. With those two things, we will be able to confidently raise our children to become the game-changers of the future.
XOXO
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