Finally! Something parents on both sides of the heated vaccine debate can agree on. Shots are adult business. So what's with Melanie's Marvelous Measles, a new book pushing the dangerous anti-vaccine agenda on -- you guessed it -- little kids?
Do we really want our kids weighing in on whether or not they want a shot in the arm?
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I'm going to give that one a big fat negative!
I am all for using books and movies to explain important issues to our kids. But there's a fine line between resource and propaganda, and Australian natural health activist Stephanie Messenger crossed it big time. She's feeding kids dangerous information -- the likes of "measles don't run and catch you or hurt you ... for most children it is a good thing to get measles" -- to get the kids to fight their parents on a decision that really isn't theirs to make in the first place!
My kid is 7. If I tell her she's going to get her flu shot this week, I expect her to whine and try to bargain her way out of it because that's what kids do. But I'm her mother; it's my job to make the tough decisions that she can't yet make.
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Obviously I'm a pro-vaccine parent. This book infuriates me because it's spreading untruths about a disease that kills kids.
But let's say I wasn't. I still would expect my 7-year-old to fall in line because she's 7. She simply doesn't have the ability to read all the literature on vaccines, anticipate future issues, think beyond the pain of a needle jab in the arm. Just another reminder that just because a book is written "for kids" doesn't mean it really is!
Is there any place for this "children's" book? Or is this a topic that should be left to adults?
Images via Amazon; shutterstock
