To be cross that a mother took her healthy child to see a child with chicken pox because she wanted her child to get it which she did and now my daughter and few other in the class have got it from her DD

[schmoopoo]

AAARGH

YABU - she's gonna get it sometime, it's never gonna be convenient no matter when she gets it.

I took my healthy dd to see a friend's child who had chickenpox and I'm hoping that she has got it so I think you're being unreasonable, though I can also see why you're annoyed.

Isn't it best to get it over with early? And there is a lot of chickenpox around at the moment so your child might not have avoided it anyway.

yabu

Its usually not the end of the world but I do wish some people would think. Its fine to have chickenpox if you are healthy but its horrid if you are an adult or if you are immuno suppressed nits extremely serious - thats what gets on my nerves tbh - people dont ever THINK

YABU. Everyone gets CP eventually. Chicken pox is best caught young. I got it at 14 and it was not fun. She sounds v sensible.

sorry about the immuno suppressed nits in my last post

The reason that it is horrible to have as an adult is why I want my dd to get it while she is a child.

yes YABU

and I know what Fio is saying and we have an immuno-surpressed adult in the house but still YABU

Sounds like the law of unintended consequences unleashed.

I worry that my dd3, who is 10, has never had chicken pox, but would never follow the advice I am always being given to deliberately expose her so she gets it while still a child.

What has worried me is that she could get a particularly nasty bout (you can never tell how strongly it is going to hit - ds got it off dd2 and while she had been fine he was really ill). I would never forgive myself if I had exposed her deliberately and she was really ill (or even got a secondary infection).

YANBU and have given me another reason to avoid doing this myself.

I see what you mean, but I still think yabu. I had CP as an adult and it was really horrid. Best to get it when young.

A guy I work with recently caught CP from his son, who picked it up at nursery. My colleague was very unwell for two weeks. He said his son suffered at most 10% of what he suffered. So, I think it's a good thing for children to catch CP.

However, I do take your point that it was perhaps a bit irresponsible of her to send her kid to school knowing she had most likely been infected. It wasn't really her place to make that decision for the whole class.

I wish my daughter would catch it! She seems immune to most tings though!

I just hope she doesn't get it the week before the wedding!

Or when her baby is about to be born, as I've heard that can be nasty!

Funnily enough I never seem to have had chicken pox, even though my siblings had it when I was six months. Eventually my mother has admitted she was probably so busy looking after the other three that she failed to notice I has it!

There is a vaccine for people who prefer to avoid the experience all together whilst still giving their kids some protection from a worse case in adulthood.

The NHs of course is too cheap to offer it. But, you can get it privately.

I'd be pissed off if my ds got it for that reason at the moment as we are off on holiday in 2 weeks, but I can understand why some parents do it.

Incidentally, it doesn't always offer immunity - I had cp as an adult (lots of the buggers) but I'm not immune and could catch it again.

I had CP at 15, it was horrid, DD had it at 2 and tbh i think it was the best time, she was dosed up on piriton (I think) and calpol so practically slept through it, so in that respect yes TABU,

She wouldn't have known that her child had contracted it until the first spots came out; she would have had to keep her child off school for the whole 2-3 week incubation period.

that's totally ridiculous .. you don't keep a child off school because they have been exposed to an infection .. you keep them off because they have one

Children are bound to get it. I took dd to a friends to get chicken pox. I would rather she had it young. When she went to pre school they had a note on the door every other week warning that a child is off with chicken pox. Well it's too late by then anyway.

Years ago they used to have chicken pox parties. One child got it and all the mums would get together for that very reason.

I agree though that it is thoughtless if you know your child has it to socialise with others without their knowledge or permission.

vaccines don't confer life-long immunity .. probably about 10 - 15 years worth

But then, you can't keep a child off school just in case they may be incubating chicken pox, as even in this case there was every chance she wouldn't have caught it. Dd1 recently was exposed (again) and this time it was dd2 that had it, so I finally though she might actually catch it. Still had to go to school though, incubation can be 10 days to 3 weeks which is too long to keep off just in case. And after all that, she STILL didn't come out in cp anyway so I wouldn't have kept her off for nothing.

Not sure if I should mention this, but a man I know, in his late 20s, died last year from chicken pox. It's not just "worse" as an adult, it can be terminal.

I would want my children to get CP as children (obviously). If I was an adult and had never had it I would go and get the vaccine. I am not above exposing my children to the virus (though I never have) as it is so important to be immune to it as an adult.

CP will always be rife in schools etc. even if people stop deliberately exposing their children. It's main issue being that it is most contagious before the spots appear.

My DS had it at 7 months and it was wonderfully mild. The younger they get it the better apparently. You can't avoid it for ever.