I’ve just sent back the permission slip to the school for them to administer the HPV vaccine to my 12 year old daughter. Does she really need it now, this year? Maybe I am being a little naive but she’s not ready for a boyfriend, let alone a sexual relationship. I just think that if society and government think they need to vaccinate girls at the age of 12 from sexually transmitted diseases what hope do we stand in stopping them from thinking its “ok” to have underage sex because they have been “protected”. I just think its sending contradicting messages to youngsters, here’s a jab for protecting you from a disease which you should even come in to contact with legally till you are 16 but just in case you can have it at 12. I am no prude, I just worry that my already growing up too fast daughter will see this as an excuse to grow up even faster. They are funny though. Listening to her and her mates discussing it is hilarious. Apparently the needle is 6’ long, 3 girls have passed out while having it done and your arm practically drops off as soon as the needle goes in. In her ranting to me at how incredibly painful this injection will be and how its absolutely worse than anything I, as her mother have ever experienced. I quietly pointed out to her that it will be no more painful than getting her eyebrows threaded (don’t ask !) and she’s had that done twice now voluntarily. We’ve discussed the issues surrounding the jab and why its a positive thing to happen to her. But it still raises concerns in my mind, if not for her but for her peers that don’t have that stronger a relationship with a parent. In the meantime I have thoroughly distracted her thoughts away from all that stuff by starting to plan her 13th birthday party. I really hope that her baby brothers don’t want the same treatment for their 13th’s as I don’t think I could cope with the pressure again. Well they do say as the kids get older the worries get bigger and does seem to be turning out that way. I would just like to know how I managed to be worrying about my kids at both ends of the scale. I mean, worrying when one is going to be out of nappies, one is fighting in the playground and panicking about when one might get in to dodgy situations because she 13 and her friends think it might be funny to get her drunk.. OMG !!
I agree wholeheartedly with you on how the giving the jab at 12 is contridicting everything we say about when to become sexually active, however I think it is a sad fact of society that there are girls out there who are getting pregnant at 13, and thats their reasons for giving the jab. reading a post like this makes me realise that having a girl is possibly more worrying than boys, or is that a myth? My nightmare is 10 years down the line and an irrate father turning up on the doorstep!
ReplyDeleteI have that worry too with my boys. Each sex has its own challenges regards parenting I think and neither one is easy. There is so much pressure on girls to grow up and alot of it they push on to each other, its just very hard and i keep reminding her she is still very young.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% with the HPV vaccine - just because they have it doesn't encourage them to run out and have sex - just think of the disease you are protecting her from - its amazing :)
ReplyDeleteI'm really half and half about this; I think the government find it difficult to convey sensible messages to our youngsters full stop these days and it is very contradictory. We would all encourage our children not to have sex before they are at least old enough legally wouldn't you think.
ReplyDeleteBut protecting them against a disease is a sensible thing to do.
CJ xx
I would have absolutely no problem with this vaccine being given to my daughter at the time advised. OK, so it is painful, but I'm sorry to say, so is cervical cancer. Yes, it sends mixed messages, but what do you do? Say "any slightly sluttish girls come over here for your jabs, you sensible ones can wait until you are 16 or maybe even 18"! (written very tongue in cheek BTW)
ReplyDeleteI also think boys should have the jab, it seems very sexist to say its ok for boys to wander about with HPV and not girls, after all, it can infect another person.
I've gone back and forth with this, only because it's so new and still not completely understood. I agree with the need for it, but over here, they started realising that it needs to be done again about 5 years after the initial one. The thinking from some doctors was that if you give a 12 year old the jab, it just has to be done again at 17.
ReplyDeleteDepends on your daughter I suppose but we've waited and now she's 17, it's time. Dan, dan, dannnn.
I totally agree its an amazing vaccine and I am glad my daughter is getting it. I also think boys should have it. Probably lack of NHS funding that prevents them from vaccinating boys but I am sure if you paid for it privately it could be done and if she has to have it done again at 17 she won't be impressed. Just think there is enough things going on in her life that give her a false sense of being grown up I just hope this doesn't add to it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.naturalnews.com/031410_HPV_vaccines_doctors.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#ixzz1ENwnX0B
ReplyDeletewww.informedparent.co.uk
http://www.vaccinationcouncil.org/
All vaccinations are dangerous and unnecessary. Please check out these websites.