to not be too concerned about shingles/chicken pox infection

[MilkMonitor]

To me, chicken pox is, most of the time, a mild disease affecting many in childhood.

My great aunt was treated like a pariah over Christmas because she has shingles. I felt so sorry for her missing out on lunches and gatherings and being alone in her sheltered housing.

MIL behaved as if the woman had the Ebola virus and that she was the only one looking out for the welfare of the children.

I thought that if the kids didn't go near her or hug her, it would be fine. And if they got chicken pox, it wouldn't be that big a deal anyway.

Or am I wrong?

Dottydot - you can catch chicken pox from shingles but only if you have very close contact with the rash.

Oh. Sorry - I was sure you couldn't..!

bit of an aside here - what's the "done thing" about siblings? ds came down wiht it 4 days before xmas, is now all fine. dd is potentially incubating it but i understand the window for her getting it is up to three weeks - do i have to quarantine her all that time? as there is a chance - a slim one given the amount of wrestling she does with ds - but still a chance that she won't get it at all.....

I asked a paediatrician about this, she said there is no point in 'quarentining' your child for three weeks, but to try and avoid new born babies and pregnant women.

mazzystar, DD1 caught chicken pox recently and it took 18 days for DD2 to come out in any spots! I was at toddler group in what must have been the most contageous time but I thought we were out of the woods. Don't stay in all that time you don't know if she will come down with it or not.

But do parents generally want their kids to get chicken pox and get it over with?

Or is it just the risk to newborns and pg women?

I too thought it was something of a rite of passage for children and that it was usually a mild thing for kids over two.

Poor old aunt. Hope she gets to see family soon. Bit of an over reaction IMHO.

I think if your child is in good health and over two years old (not sure why two), then you don't need to worry about chicken pox. It's getting it as an adult that's problematic I read.