Imogen went to the doctor yesterday. She's six and a half (four feet, one inch tall) and still hasn't had the shots she was supposed to get when she was five. Why? Good question.
We used to visit a doctor in this same practice. We switched when he told me that "Someday she's going to need to figure out that you're the mother and she's the child." Now, I know when my kid is being a brat and I don't really tolerate my kid being a brat. Genevieve happened to be completely terrified, and her doctor and his nurse were being impatient and rude about it. So, new doctor. Same practice though. Which means they use the same charts. Which means that Imogen's lack of vaccinations should have been clear to them when she was brought in for allergies, an odd rash, and various other minor complaints. But no one bothered to tell me that she was in need of shots, and it's not like I've memorized the vaccination schedule.
Her current doctor was perplexed at why they had not reminded me about it, but didn't really make a big deal about it. Her nurse, however, came in with the shots and mentioned that it was "really very shocking" that Imogen hadn't had them yet. I made some kind of minor noise of assent like "mm-hm." She continued, "Kind of scary actually."
Scary? Give a break. Imogen's had all sorts of vaccines in the past. She's at least partially protected against these diseases, most of which are very uncommon in the US. It's not like we've been hiking through villages in the Amazon where polio is going to just jump out and get you or something. I think this "shocking, scary" routine is a little on the paranoid side.
Furthermore, if she was trying for some kind of guilt trip, I really don't appreciate the effort. What's with medical professionals being rude to me? I didn't say anything to her about it, because I didn't want to be rude in front of my children, and I didn't want to be rude right before she was going to stick needles into my child. So I just let it go. But it's just annoying.
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