Vaccinations, genetics and horses, and how they can help an eight year old make life-changing decisions

[jsbenkert]

Yesterday, I took my older daughter to the doctor for her school physical.   Genevieve was worried that she would have to have a vaccination, so she asked the nurse if she would need one.  The nurse said that she was due for the Hepatitis A vaccine, if we chose to have it.  That sent Genevieve in a tither of fright and worry, to which I responded that she had better not plan to have children if shots were that worrisome to her (the truth is that I also have "needle phobia", but that was beside the point at that moment).  She also had to have her finger pricked for a blood check.  It was extremely traumatic for her (again, she comes by that honestly--I, too, am a pansy when it comes to medical stuff).  She probably cleared the waiting room with her screams and cries.  I decided against the vaccine for the time being.  It just didn't seem all that necessary--Hep A is usually not life-threatening, and we weren't at a high enough risk for contracting it to make it worth the side-effects.  Oh--and by side-effects, I mean the screaming and thrashing about and the endless complaints afterward.  I'm not all that concerned about any real medical side-effects for this one, especially.  But that is not really what this post is about.

Genevieve has been playing a new game on my computer, on a website called "Horseland".  In this game, she gets to purchase and breed horses, in addition to playing other games to earn coins to pay for the horses and their upkeep.  She decided to breed her mare with another player's unicorn, and was certain that her new foal would have a horn.  She was disappointed to find that it didn't.  So I had to explain some of the genetics involved in physical traits.  I told her how if a both a mom and dad had blue eyes and if everyone in their ancestry had blue eyes, then their children would most likely have blue eyes, too.  But if one of them had brown eyes, or if they had someone in their ancestry who had brown eyes, even if they had blue eyes, then it is possible that they would have brown-eyed children.  So, if she bred her mare with a unicorn, depending on whether or not the unicorn's genes were dominant or recessive, it was equally likely that the foal would have the physical traits of a unicorn as it would to have the traits of its mother--a regular, hornless horse.  But if she bred their foal (when it reached the appropriate age, of course) with a unicorn, then the chances increased that the resulting foal would have the traits of a unicorn--but that there were still no guarantees, since the foal would still have both types of horses in its gene pool.

Then Genevieve asked me if she would have blue-eyed children if she married someone with blue eyes.  I said that it was possible, but if there are different colored eyes on either side of the family tree, then there is always the chance that the children could have something other than blue eyes.

So, Genevieve pondered this information for a few minutes.  Then she said, "Mom, I don't think I'll ever have babies, since I don't like getting shots."

So much for my lesson in genetics.

[MythicMMM]

Aug. 4, 2009 at 12:57 PM

 Too cute. You have to print this out and save it so one day if she does have kids you can show her this conversation!LoL

[aurorabunny]

Aug. 4, 2009 at 1:41 PM

LOL!  Very cute.  Tell her she can have babies and not get them shots or herself either, we do it. ;)

[aurorabunny]

Aug. 4, 2009 at 1:48 PM

Aug. 4, 2009 at 1:41 PM

LOL!  Very cute.  Tell her she can have babies and not get them shots or herself either, we do it. ;)

Oh, she's not worried about the shots, per se, althought she will avoid them at all costs for herself.  She remembered my comment from the doctor's office--she's worried about the fact that having babies hurts worse than having shots.  She's just planning ahead. ;-)

(Original Poster)

[aurorabunny]

Aug. 4, 2009 at 2:17 PM

Ohh gotcha.  Yeah it does hurt a wee bit more than shots, the pain definitely lasts longer too.  Like 18 years.