Jubes -

You made me laugh - Chuck E. Cheese is a germ farm! Blech, I can't stand that place, I literally rub her down with alcohol every few minutes when we're there!

Here's my point - like JubesInquest mentioned, one of her children got the chicken pox. And so what? I had them - my whole third grade class had them. That illness is really nothing but a nuisance, so who is the school board to tell me I HAVE to vaccinate my child against it? Whatever happened to letting our bodies do what they are supposed to do (in certain cases of illness, like I said before, not life threatening)?

I do a lot of reading and research into anything that is going into my child's body; that is why I waited on the MMR shot. I don't CARE what the government has NOT YET proven. About a year and a half ago, the statistic was that one in every 166 children was diagnosed with autism (and it is a very broad spectrum, covering Asperger's Syndrome and social delays as well as children who are non-verbal, etc.). This year, it is down to something ridiculous like one in 80. Okay, sure, our environment is not as pure as it once was, everything is in plastic, hormones are in our meats and milk, etc., so strange things are happening. But thousands upon thousands of parents insist that they had healthy, normally developing babies until they were given the MMR shot.

For example, I know pertussis could have killed my daughter if she got it when she was an infant, so of course I had her vaccinated, and would have gotten a booster myself (which they now recommend for adults) to protect her. But let's say all the life-threatening illnesses fall under Class A, and all non-threatening illnesses fall under Class B. Shouldn't it be up to me to decide what is best for my child, to be able to say, okay, get the Class A vaccines but then pick and choose from Class B?

Because now the government is thinking that they want to make it mandatory for girls to get that cervical cancer vaccine (the name is escaping me right now) when they're nine. I absolutely will not let her get that vaccine. It just came on the market!! Who knows what side effects could crop up down the road, after all these young, sexually inactive little girls have gotten it?

Sorry I've gone on a rant. I'm not even sure if I'm annoyed about the MMR or the mandatory vaccination issue. Both, probably.