Cranky, as neither you nor your doctors have forced the disease on your children “to get it over with,” I have no problems with your prudence. As I said earlier, my own comfort with the vaccine is fairly recent. It is irresponsible, even sadistic, people like in the OP that tick me off.
Deej, you are sick. It’s as simple as that. To do that ON PURPOSE to your own son when there is an option is perverse. You sicken me.
robinh…
Yeah, I have considered the chickenpox vaccine, but I still don’t trust it completely. Until my GP gives the okay on the shot (and he’s a top doc and he says “no” right now), I’m just hoping to stay lucky.
I do get a flu shot each year, though.
Pepper Mill’s mommy actually did this to Pepper and her siblings. It’s not exactly “19th century”, since there wasn’t a vaccine when we were kids. And PM has a LOT of siblings. Odd but true. This method worked – the kids got the disease while young, and there were no complications.
Don’t be a jerk dropzone. You may not agree the choices others have made, but there are ways to disagree without resorting to name calling and attacks on those that believe differently than you.
As far as the OP, I had the chicken pox when I was around three. Even though there were bad, I don’t stay awake at night worrying about shingles. I don’t know what the chances are of actually getting shingles, but in my experience it must be pretty slim. I’ve only known one person who has ever gotten it. That’s out of hundreds of relatives, co-workers, and friends.
Getting the chicken-post was no big deal since I got them as a young child. I would worry more about getting them as a teenager or an adult. I don’t have children, but if I did I still wouldn’t worry too much about vaccinating them for it. I’m not going to worry about them getting shingles later on either. If I worried about every thing that could happen, my children couldn’t leave the house because they could get hit by a car crossing the street. Or they could break something participating in sports.
I’m surprised that this is news to some people. This was a very common practice about 20 years ago, and my parents let me play with kids who had it when I was a pre-schooler. However, I never got it that way, and now I’m planning to be tested for the antibody during my next visit to the doctor, because I know I’m going to be exposed to the disease sooner or later(by the kids I work with) and it’s dangerous to catch in your 20’s. I’m hoping that I have had them, though, since I’m not sure my insurance would pay for an adult getting the vacine.
Do I smell jerky?
LOL, Nah, I’m not sick. My son was itchy and had a slight fever for a few days, but he’s fine. He also has a risk for shingles, but there are alot more serious risks that I intentionally expose him to every day. He’s at risk for being in an accident every time he gets in the car, but we still go places. He’s at risk for e.coli and salmonella (which have killed far more people than both chicken pox and shingles combined, I’ll bet )being in the barn, but he’s still gonna help me shovel shit and get the eggs every day. There are probably some greater risks than shingles involved in cleaning the catbox and the rabbit cages, but they’re his cat and his rabbits, and he’s gonna take care of them. He could get seriously hurt playing soccer or football, but I intentionally allow him to do those things too. He is not now, and never has been, a pampered little prince too delicate to get sick, dirty or do his chores.
I really, really think that you have totally lost perspective on this issue, dropzone.
There may have been a place for it twenty years ago. Today, when the choice is between making your kid sick on purpose and risking that he might still get it because the vaccine, though safe, may not be fully effective, is child abuse. It is not an “opinion,” it is a fact. These people would rather hurt their children than do something for them.
Insurance companies are usually happy to pay for vaccinations. Unlike some of the people in this thread, they see the value of vaccination versus not vaccinating.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by dropzone *
**
I beg to differ. How is it abusive? I would never subject my child to being a guinea pig for any substance that the health care provider I have chosen to trust feels is an experimental substance. I don’t care if it’s a vaccination or an ointment for a wound. Not my kid. I think that to allow an experimental substance to be injected into your childs body is much closer to abuse. Just my opinion. Obviously you feel otherwise. ::shrug:: No biggie.
Deep breaths, dropzone. One of the important phrases in your last “child abuse” post was that the vaccine was safe. If a parent or doctor does not believe (for whatever reason) that the vaccine is as safe as they can be comfortable with, then it’s off the table as an option for them. Then the alternatives are: let the child get it by chance (which is going to be increasingly hard to “let” happen, as more and more kids are vaccinated) or try to increase the chances that the kid gets it when he or she is young, by not shying away from kids with the pox.
Alas, not getting the vaccine is indeed becoming a riskier decision for those of us who have declined because as other kids get the shot, the disease gets rarer.
Like I said, I’ll probably cave and get it for the Crankster in another three years (state law will require it in any event). However, I completely understand why parents who don’t want the kid to have the vaccine would want their child to get it soon, before vaccination rates make it all but impossible to get. 19th century, 20 years ago, or today, I think it’s a logical option for anyone who does not want to give the vaccine after careful consideration
Having a bad day dropzone?
It would make me ever so happy if many years from now my kids were to look back on the job their mom and dad did, and the worst thing they could come up with is that we intentionally exposed them to chicken pox.
How’s your parental balance sheet looking?
Yeah, my wife has fond memories of her father making sure she got chickenpox, as well as the times later in her life when he scared or pissed her off enough to trigger shingles. :rolleyes:
I give up on you people. The possibility that you child may become sick from the vaccine is very low. The possibility that he will become sick naturally is becoming harder thanks to RESPONSIBLE parents. Under those circumstances intentionally making your kid sick is insane.
Well, my goodness Mr. Crabby Appleton, we might be irresponible, stupid, ignorant, sadistic, slaves-to-our-Disney-schedule, not-worthy-of-respect child abusers, but I’ll warrant we answered your posts with significantly commendable good humor and patience given the epithets therein.
So. We gots that going for us. 
Which is good.
Now who do you think put the bee in HIS bonnet?
I note he didn’t respond to my question about his “parental balance sheet.”
Gotta sign off now, go home and abuse the kiddies, beat the wife, fuck the dog – you know, same old same old.
I think that part of it is that you folks are used to the usual, never had an opinion in my life, dropzone. I guess I have one, after all.
And you, Cranky, have been specifically singled out in my posts as NOT a target of my vitriol, so you shouldn’t be taking it too personally. I could understand that you would object to it from a philosophical standpoint, but I described YOUR actions as prudent. Some of the others, however… Well, I don’t understand how otherwise-intelligent people would do this to their own children. And I’m not alone in my thinking. I’ve discussed this with other people and they agree. Because some of the people on this board wouldn’t believe somebody if he told them the time without several references, I’ll provide my cites. Name available upon request.
Jerry at Work: “Haven’t they heard of vaccinations? Are they nuts?”
Wife: “Yes, that sounds like child abuse to me.”
CHILD ABUSE?
Let’s put this in perspective, dude. If this were the black plague, I’d completely agree with you, but it’s CHICKENPOX. You get itchy sores for a few days and then - bam! - you’re okay.
And if we’ll cause shingles in our kids when we piss them off later, that’ll give us one more excuse to be as loving and non-stress-inducing as we can be to our adult children, right?
Because your home is sorta on my way home and I’d have to stop there and punch you in the nose.
Okay, there’s been a Caddyshack reference and a Tom Terrific reference but not a Foghorn Leghorn quote, so, “That’s a joke, son.”
(grumble grumble)Better apologize before I get a nasty email from UncleBeer(grumblegrumble)
I am sorry for speaking my true feelings in MPSIMS. I will go back to being dopey ol’ dropzone.
I had to re-read the subject header a couple of times. When I first saw it, I thought it said ‘chickenpox panties’.
My next thought was ‘how do they work? are they some type of women’s underwear with a design resembling the chickenpox bug faithfully rendered in lace and satin’? Or do they give you chickenpox or what.
Then I re-read the subject line. Oops. 
And here I was, thinking that there was an upcoming DopeFest celebrating female santiary products, until it was brought to my attention that there is a city in Florida that has a similar name …
I gotta stop sniffing this white powder while I read the SDM…<thump!>
Yes, drop, I know where you’re coming from. I’ve been witness to a few vaccination debates (thanks to my participation on some mommy-related mailing groups) and I understand your position and, to some degree, share it.
I just think the chicken pox issue is a separate one altogether (at least in my mind) and for me isn’t as emotionally-charged as the debates over vaccinating for other diseases. I have friends who don’t vaccinate at all, and I’m well aware that their decision is only “safe” because I did choose to let my kid get a needle jammed into him. I don’t feel that they fully appreciate that.
Sorry for ribbin’ ya in that last post. I just thought everyone (myself notwithstanding, who as you accurately assessed was exempted from some of your criticism) was pretty chipper in their posts about this, and I admired that. I mean, you thwacked Deej pretty good and he/she responded nicer than I would’ve. Especially if I’d had so few posts under my belt.
I’ve got completely unvaccinated kids. Absolutely never had a needle in their lives. It’s been a serious, serious decision which took a lot of research and a lot of heartache. They’re both on the autistic spectrum and there is some evidence that vaccination is a Very Bad Thing for these kids. There is also evidence that it makes no difference. Me, I chose to not vaccinate because I can live with that easier than I could if I vacc’ed them and they got worse.
That said, I’ve considered hanging out with diseased kids. My pair have never had anything at all in their lives. I’m now getting concerned about how serious the diseases might be as they get older.
And IMO casually vaccinating without doing any research, simply because the doctor told you to is a form of child abuse.