Would you let your 4yo choose whether to be vaccinated?

[Dramatic]

I'm talking about the flu vaccine not the infant vaccines.

Talking to a mum outside school this morning, our kids are both in reception and we were talking about them getting the flu vaccine at school in a couple of days. She then said her daughter won't be getting it because she asked her if she wanted it and her daughter said no. Is this a normal thing to do? I hadn't even thought to ask my daughter, surely they're far too young to understand the decision they're making? Would you put that choice on a child this young?

It’s not normal, and imo is lazy parenting under the guise of treating children like small adults. A four year old cannot consent to treatment. They have no understanding of benefits, risks or consequences of either decision. And the parent saying that the onus is on her child is ridiculous because ultimately if they felt strongly the other way to what the child decided, would override it.

No sensible person would allow their child to make that choice.

No, that's bonkers. You're the parent, so parent.

No.

It's the parents' job to make these choices.

Would I heck as like. I wouldn’t even let a four year old choose what to have for tea.

No I wouldn’t let a 4 year old make the choice.

My daughter is 14 and she doesn't want to get it, but she does because I tell her she has to. 🤷‍♀️

Well she could just tell you she has and not

No. Just no. Why do people have children but then not want to be parents. They are kids. She is an adult. She shouldn't want to be her child's friend.

When her 4 year old was a baby, I wonder if she asked if she wanted her nappy changed?

I joke but she probably did! 😬

Does the 4 year old understand it's a spray up the nose, not an injection?

The world has gone mad.
My 11yo doesn't want it but she still gets it!

It depends what the 4 year old is basing their decision on. Maybe they’ve read up on the risks of not being vaccinated? Or the science behind how the vaccine was developed and manufactured? Or did they just feel like saying no?
I think the rule of thumb is if you don’t let your 4 year old cross a road alone, use the lawn mower unsupervised or arrange your mortgage for you then they don’t decide this either.

Ffs.

What sane adult could possibly believe a 4 year should be allowed to decide this?

What would the consequences be if she refused?

I can believe its real i once knew someone who said her son was a free spirit and let him decide his own bed time his own meals his own everything including going to school or not

Err, no. 4yr olds have no capacity to make that decision.

Absolutely not.

I cannot stand how the idea of giving children agency has been twisted. That is not age appropriate.

The level to which parents now consult or even hand over decision making to small children is insane.

What’s driving it? Permissive parenting? Social media? Collapse of society and growth of individualism?

How the F does this mum think her four year old child knows what a disease is, how diseases spread, the consequences of unchecked diseases, what a vaccine is and has the intellectual capacity to weigh up the pros and cons???

It is genuinely real, she also has an 11yo daughter who she gave the choice to aswell!

No you don’t give a 4 yo that kind of choice .

No. A 4 year old doesn't have the maturity or understanding to make decisions like that. No parent should be putting a child in a position, that they have to make a decision of this nature at 4. Ridiculous. It's the parents decision, not the child.

Absolutely not.

At age 4 that is a parents decision.