Parents likely aren’t going to agree on every single decision about their kids.
This is especially true when parents actually have different parenting styles.
Whether it is about discipline techniques, what time the kids should go to bed, or how much allowance they should get, disagreements are bound to come up at some point if both parents are actively involved in parenting.
What Does Your Significant Other Think About Vaccines?
What happens if you disagree about vaccines?
Do you even know what your SO thinks about vaccines?
- Does your SO ever talk about a Big Pharma conspiracy?
- Do they buy into the myths that vaccines are full of toxins or that they don’t even work?
- Are they afraid that vaccines will damage your baby in some way?
- Instead of going to the doctor when they are sick, do they instead grab some essential oils and head to their chiropractor, acupuncturist, and a naturopath?
Ideally, like most other parenting issues, you would have had a talk about vaccines way before you started planning a family and you would know what your significant other thinks.
Unfortunately, we often hear about disagreements about vaccines after a couple already has a baby.
In some cases, they not only have kids, but have already split up. Then, in addition to fighting about child support, visitation schedules, and who gets the house, you might have separated or divorced parents trying to convince a judge that only one of them should be allowed to make vaccination decisions.
That could mean that an unvaccinated child gets vaccinated over one parent’s objections or that a child stays unvaccinated, even though the other parent wants him to be vaccinated and protected.
When Parents Disagree About Vaccines
While it is hard to know the best thing to do in this situation, there is one thing that you absolutely shouldn’t do.
Don’t vaccinate your child behind the other parent’s back.
Instead, help them understand that vaccines work and are safe and necessary.
What if they still don’t agree?
Ask what exactly they are worried about and make sure to get them answers for those specific concerns. It might also help to have them come to your next appointment and talk to your doctor.
Can you just agree to disagree about vaccines? I guess, as long as the one who didn’t get their way is going to agree to not be upset about it. If that’s the parent who wanted their child vaccinated, then that also means their is child is left at risk for getting a vaccine-preventable disease while they try to “hide in the herd.”
Can they just compromise?
While there is no benefit to skipping or delaying any vaccines over being fully vaccinated and protected, it is better than being unvaccinated. Hopefully, learning to compromise and lots of counseling can get you both to where you aren’t in a situation when a judge makes your vaccination decisions for you.
What to Know When Parents Disagree About Vaccines
It is best to know what your partner thinks about vaccines before you start planning on having kids.
More on When Parents Disagree About Vaccines
- What Are the Pro and Con Arguments for Vaccines?
- Are You on the Fence About Vaccines?
- Are You Too Scared to Vaccinate Your Kids?
- 10 Reasons You Aren’t Vaccinating Your Kids
- 100 Myths About Vaccines
- Anti-Vaccine Points Refuted A Thousand Times
- How To Counter Vaccine Hesitancy
- 50 Ways to Get Educated About Vaccines
- Ask 8 Questions Before You Skip a Vaccine
- More Questions to Help You Become a Vaccine Skeptic
- Answers To Frequently Asked Questions About Immunizations
- How Pediatricians Should Talk to Vaccine Hesitant Parents
- Talking to Your Vaccine-Hesitant Loved Ones with Compassion and Confidence
- Parents and pediatricians: Do you think a pre-natal discussion about vaccines would help assuage fears?
- An early cure for parents’ vaccine panic
- Rights of the Unvaccinated Child: Vaccinating Over the Parents’ Will
- The child’s best interest – vaccines and parental rights
- When the vaccination wars hit home
- House Divided: When Vaccines Cause Family Conflict
- I thought all anti-vaxxers were idiots. Then I married one.
- Guide to Convincing Parents to Vaccinate their Children
- Why parents refuse vaccines
- One more time: Vaccine refusal endangers everyone, not just the unvaccinated
- Quebec judge rules boy, 12, can get COVID-19 vaccine despite father’s opposition
- Families not immune from vaccination debate