I’m around kids all day, it’s my new reality.  If it’s not my kid, it’s sick kids at the pediatricians office, play dates with other runny-nosed kids, getting coughed on by a kiddo giving me a hug: it’s all in a day’s work.  I would do anything for my son, and my dream for him is to be a happy, healthy, toddler who turns into a happy, healthy, productive member of society.  And if sticking him with a needle gives him better odds of being that, then by all means stick away.  But it’s not just about my son.  As was my desire to get myself and my husband vaccinated for the whopping cough it was also to get the flu shot this year, and here’s why:

Did you all see that news article last week about the mom in Texas who died at the age of 29 leaving behind 3 kids?  The thought is terrifying.  Not only of having 3 kids at my age, but of Lucas not having the opportunity to come find me when I hide under a blanket on the family room floor or telling his friends in school that “my mom made my lunch.”  Lucas deserves to have me around.

Jenny McCarthy who has decided that vaccinations hurt kids, and all of the selfish moms who agree with her and choose not to vaccinate their kids.  Yes, you read that right: selfish.  Their choice not to vaccinate their kid is bringing back all of these horrible diseases which otherwise would have been more or less eliminated (for lack of a better word).  But now?  My son is going to grow up in a world where he better hope that I kept up on his shots because his classmate is going to come down with a nasty case of whopping cough that’s not going to be diagnosed until his tree-hugging mother sends him to school sick for a week.

So if my son’s healthy future could possibly be tarnished by someone in his world getting sick, then by all means I can put aside my paralyzing fear of needles and would you like my left arm or my right?  And allow me to hold my son while you stick his leg because we’re going to do everything that we can in this house to make sure that my son gets the opportunity to tell me that I’m embarrassing him.

And THAT is why I got the flu shot today.