My Informal Poll

I made an informal poll on Cafe Mom after my first H1N1 post. I thought I'd post the results here:

Poll Results
Question: What is the hottest parenting debate?

Breast vs. Formula Feeding
30%
Cloth vs. Disposable Diapers
0%
Spanking or Gentle Disciplining
24%
Vaxing or Not Vaxing
26%
Parenting to sleep or Crying it out
0%
Organic Living
0%
Car Seat Safety
12%
When to start solids
1%
Home School vs. Public School
0%
TV watching
0%
OTHER- Please leave a comment with what
4%
Total Votes: 86

The OTHERS were political or religious commentary, which is definately involved in parenting, as well as to circ or not. It looks like breast vs. bottle is first followed by a close 2nd of vax issues. What do you think? I would set up another poll here, but I'm too lazy. Just leave a comment for us to read.

The H1N1 Debate

I just read this great post on a Daddy Blogger's site about why you should get your child the H1N1 vaccine. Read it here. I particularly liked these quotes from his post:

• The evidence in favour of the flu vaccine (much as with routine childhood vaccinations) is so overwhelming and clear that getting the vaccine -- and making sure your children get it -- seems about as clear and straightforward as buckling up before you go for a drive.

• Basically every medical expert -- from public health officers down to family doctors -- is saying people should get the vaccine. So why isn't that good enough for you? Or is it only when it comes to preventative medicine that you think you're smarter than someone with a medical degree?

I'm a strong believer in shots. Claire got the flu shot when she was 6 months and the booster that same winter. She has all of her shots done now until she goes to Kindergarten. I have also gotten the flu shot every year since I was 18 and never gotten "the flu" -- coincidence or not, I'd like to think it helps. We've already gotten our regular flu shots this year (at the start of Sept!) and I've been calling the OB and Peds office to see if they have them in yet. The Peds office has a message saying they are not in. My family doctor that I go to said they do not have any and will not be getting any. So it might not even be an option for us to get them, but if and when they become available, I will definitely be getting them for Claire and I. Josh isn't eligible.

We travel a lot and actually venture into the world so I think we need vaccines. Going to get groceries even...who knows what you could pick up there. If you actually think about the variety of products and where everything came from as far as types of fruits, veggies, and meats...as well as boxes and cans and all sorts of products that have been touched by several sets of hands to just end up on the shelf...not to mention all the shoppers who touch stuff...you are exposed to lots of germs just walking into any store. I guess the fear factor is in place with me. I'd be scared not to have my child vaccinated. I guess some people have a stronger faith that their kid will not wind up sick. I'm just a big chicken!

I have talked in length with my mom and cousin Kami about the shots. I guess since they are both nurses, they have seen and cared for the sickest of the sick with this. Kami was telling me about a male Josh's age who also works in an office on computers who thought he was getting a cold and ended up on her floor for almost 2 months. It's definitely not an illness I feel comfortable with me or my family getting if I could've prevented it. On the other hand, I also respect those people that don't want to get shots for their family for whatever reason. My logic is, however, at some point, they will have to show shot records for something...school, living in a dorm at college, being a teacher, or working in a medical field...what do you think?

What is the biggest fear out there? From what I've read on other blogs and facebook...the non-professional stuff...it seems like the biggest concern are the additives. Well, we don't eat organic. I tried that for about 3 weeks in Jan. and decided it was not possible living in the Midwest unless we wanted to spend about 5 times as much on food. We don't buy all organic clothes, bedding, and toys. We are probably still breathing in highly "toxic" fumes from the paint, wood, and carpet in our house that was built just over 4 years ago. Ha. You're damned either way on the house thing...if you live in an old house you'll have lead paint and other toxic things! I'm sure we bathe in toxic soap and wash our hair with poisons. I even read something awhile back about how "toxic" different cars were. You know that great "new car" smell. Yeah...TOXIC! CHEMICALS!!!!!! Everything has some sort of side effect. I guess the only truly safe thing would to be to move to the middle of nowhere and live in a tent. You'd have to live in entirely clean air and drink water completely untouched by chemicals. And if you think drinking bottled water is safer than tap...you've got the plastic bottle to worry about. HA. So anyways, my point is just that any preservative or additive in a shot is probably a lot less harmful than some sugar or caffeine which people readily and eagerly dump into their bodies. Seriously...they are not out to get us...they are not trying to kill us all or force injections.

I think it's great that the offer shots in schools again. Why should a parent have to take off work, have the kid miss school and go to a doctor's office...usually full of sick people to get a shot that takes all of one minute/person to administer. It drives me nuts when people say they get sick from getting the flu shot. WRONG. You get sick because you probably sat in a germ-filled doctor's office and picked up some creepy-crawlies there! They have to get permission slips signed, so don't freak out they are going to jab your kid if you don't want them to be jabbed. Heck, at Ben Davis, they not only brought a mobile doctor for schooly physicals, but a mobile dentist to school! I think shots are a little less invasive than those more lengthy procedures. Yes, I understand food enters your body differently than shots do, but really...it's all gonna mix around eventually.

I think another big concern was the way shots were made. Yeah...think about any consumable product. Have you read My Year of Meats or The Jungle which are excellent books on the meat industry. It will keep you away from steak for a few weeks after you finish reading it. They are along the same line as Fast Food Nation ... if you look into anything too much, IT WILL DRIVE YOU NUTS AND SCARE YOU! NOTHING IS 100% SAFE! I mean if you pick apart water or H2O you have HYDROGEN! AHH! IT'S A FLAMMABLE GAS. But whatever, I'm done with this post...so tell me if I shouldn't get the shot...leave a really long detailed comment with lots of links, but make sure to read that first post by the daddy blogger as he does address the comments from Dr. Sears who say "maybe" to the H1N1. I really am interested in reading both sides pros/cons.

But telling me the shot contains monkey brains or something won't scare me. I enjoy eating liver paste and have tried cow tongue and brains. :) I've also eaten raw hamburger and goose lard...delicacies in Germany! And I still eat meat after reading those meat books I mentioned!

The Great Santa Debate

Ok...so with the cooler weather and all...I have started thinking about Christmas. So Josh and I were talking today about SANTA. I was raised NOT believing in Santa, but he was. So we were talking about what we are going to do with Claire. Obviously, he thinks we should teach her to believe in Santa, but I don't. I think we are pretty much polar-opposites on this topic. So if you celebrate Christmas, what are you teaching your kids? I remember talking about Santa last year, but it didn't really matter because Claire's new vocab at Christmas consisted of "pretty light" and "big tree." She now however has a huge grasp of language and will probably get it pretty well...to a degree. So maybe we could just play pretend this year and not worry about things till next year? Really to her -- Barney or whatever else she sees on TV probably seem pretty real to her anyways.

My dad was born in Germany, so we celebrated the Christmas season mostly the German way, which includes the entire Advent Season which are the four Sundays prior to Christmas. We would open a smaller gift each advent and light a candle on an Advent wreath. Then my mom would read something from the Bible. Actually she read first then we got to open the presents...I don't really remember paying much attention, but just being excited about presents! I remember one year my sister Holly and I were super-into Charm Bracelets!!! Those things rocked!

Then on Christmas eve we would have a big dinner with family, go to Christmas eve service at church where the last song would usually be "SILENT NIGHT" sung by candle light, then come home and open all the rest of the gifts. It was a fun and late night. My parents were brilliant. This way, we kids were well entertained the next morning with new stuff. Meanwhile, nobody was waking them up early to open gifts. Ha! Then we'd usually go to my Aunt Lee's house for a big Christmas lunch and a gift exchange with them.

Every year we also got chocolate Advent Calendars. It had 24 little doors with one bigger door for Christmas day. Each door contained a piece of chocolate about the size of a Hershey Kiss. Yum. Somedays, I would be naughty and eat more than one piece. Then I would shut the door of the day I stole that piece from. But then I would be sad when I opened that number and the candy was already gone. Ha. Mine was always gone well before Christmas!

My absolute 100% favorite part about teaching German was teaching about Christmas...it was probably the only class where kids got to even talk about Christmas. If anyone out-does Americans on Christmas, it is the Germans. Germany around Advent and Christmas rocks!!! There are a lot of other German Christmas traditions, like the Christmas markets. There is actually one in Chicago that closely rivals the German ones.

The first time I went was a field trip in HS when it was still very small. We went back about 5 years ago...let's see it was my mom, Holly, my friend Anja who was visiting from Germany, cousin Sue, and maybe a few other women...headed up there...and it was HUGE! They had large tents and heated areas...because basically it's like a farmer's market, which means BRR!!!! in Chicago in Nov/Dec! But it was absolutely marvelous...tons of foods, drinks, and crafts to look at. Something big in Germany at Christmas is called "Gluehwein" which is like a hot spiced fruit punch with alcohol. Well that description sounds kind of nasty, but it's actually pretty good.

So back to the Santa thing...did you that "St. Nickolaus" originated in Germany? Well, according to the cultural component that we were teaching to the kids at the time I was teaching, that's the way it goes. Scroll down through this page and onto the next to read more about Santa origins.

So basically as a kid, my siblings and I were taught that Santa was something that was fun to believe in and not to spoil it for other kids who did believe in it. I remember last year that Josh told me he was crushed when he was having doubts about Santa and he asked his mom if Santa was real, and she finally told him "No."

I guess my issue with it is that I feel like it is teaching a lie. And I really don't want to lie to my kid just to have some fun. I really don't see any fun in that. We always made a birthday cake for Jesus and sang him "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" on Christmas eve to remember the whole reason for Christmas was Jesus being born. Personally, I think it's a great excuse to have some cake. :) So what to do? What to do??? How do you compromise and KIND OF teach a belief in Santa? I mean, yeah, you could get into the whole religion debate, but let's deal with Santa first.

We also did put out milk and cookies for Santa...I'm not even sure if my parents grew up believing in Santa...I kind of doubt it since my Dad was born in Germany and my mom was from a pretty strict Lutheran household. Personally, I always thought that kids who believed in Santa were a little bit stupid...that would be like believing in Mickey Mouse and him being real. No offense to anyone. But also, and no offense here, I think it's kind of silly to get Christmas gifts from Josh's mom/step-dad that say "From Santa"--really? MAYBE HE IS REAL!?!