chicken pox - should my dd age 2 be exposed to it or not?

[jujumaman]

Friends were coming over on Sunday but their dd2 has chicken pox so I have cancelled. They say it's good for young children to catch it early and get it out of the way but I am still not thrilled at the idea of deliberately exposing dd2 (dd1 has had it) to it - though I'd be zen if and when she eventually picks it up. Is there any truth in our friends' argument - I would love to see them but not if dd2 is going to be spotty and miserable.

I wouldn't deliberately expose my 2 year old to chicken pox. That is an age when they probably won't understand the whole don't scratch thing. If they catch it unknowingly then they catch it, but I wouldn't have them knowingly playing with children who had it IYSWIM. Etiquette round here is that children with pox stay away until they have scabbed over.

If it were me - I would want DS 2.4 to catch it. But then I have DC2 on the way, and I'd rather he had it now than when I had a newborn to worry about and look after IYSWIM