Vaccinations? Yes. Just Yes.

My five-year-old just got her last round of vaccinations until she's an adolescent. It was not pretty. This was the first year she remembered before we hit the doctor's office that there were shots involved. She also remembered how much shots hurt, how much she loathes them. I found myself explaining, for the first time, why she actually has to have them.

At least to her.

I know this will anger some of you, but I take a very firm stance on vaccinations. Vaccinations save lives. Period. Letting your child go without vaccinations is dangerous to her and to her playmates. Vaccinating your child is the entrance fee for living and interacting in a First World country.

I remember doing the research when my daughter was a newborn. I remember reading about autism. I remember worrying the vaccinations might cause autism. I'm not even completely unconvinced they don't cause autism in some children. I don't think we have enough scientific proof one way or the other -- I think it's possible many environmental triggers could produce autism in certain children, and one of those triggers might be vaccines. Another might be diet. Beyond that, I'm too uneducated to write. I'm not dismissing the possibility. I still think parents should vaccinate.

I'm predisposed to depression, anxiety and eating disorders. I developed an eating disorder when I was 17 that lasted well into my twenties. I don't know exactly which trigger caused it to flare. Was it my perfectionism? Was it my lack of control when my mother got cancer in my formative years? Was it society and glossy magazine models? Was it my mean "friends" who made fun of my thighs? Was it all of those things bottled up in a perfect anorexia cocktail? I'll never know. Will my daughter, who carries half my genes, develop an eating disorder?

I don't know. But there are only so many variables I can control, that I can anticipate, that I can head off. I can't force her to eat; I can't forbid her from eating. I have to take the chance that everything will be okay and soldier on.

So don't think I'm unsympathetic to worrying a child may be a loaded gun just waiting to go off, to wanting to prevent any unnecessary triggers. But vaccines aren't unnecessary. Without them, disease spreads rampant and people die of curable diseases.

Forgoing vaccinations wouldn't even be possible if most children didn't receive them. Depending on other people to keep your children safe in this way is wrong. Therefore, I believe if you choose not to vaccinate, you should homeschool your kids. Period. Until they graduate from high school. Which may very well be a viable and preferable choice for those who don't want to vaccinate.

Okay, I'm ready. What do you guys think?