[Tired of Taxes]

The chicken pox vaccine wears off after a number of years, and now we have problems with “vaccinated” college kids getting it. It is better to get your chicken pox as a small fry.

I know people who have chicken pox parties. When one child catches it, they bring their children to visit and catch it so that they won't catch it later in life. I always thought chicken pox parties was a terrible idea. But your comment makes me wonder if they have the right idea after all...

[elc]

I will definitely take my little one to a chicken pox party if I know someone who has one. She was supposed to get the vaccine at 12 or 15 months. We declined. If she doesn’t get the chicken pox by the time she has to start school, then we’ll get the vaccine (if I can’t convince my husband to home school before then).

I’d rather her catch them and have a natural immunity for the rest of her life then have her need continuous boosters so she doesn’t get them as an adult, when they are much harder to handle.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

My son caught chicken pox when he was 4. Worst case the doctor had seen in his 30 years of practice. There’s still a couple of scars on his face that are visible up close, 12 years later.

That said, I think mandatory chicken pox vaccinations are silly, and are probably pushed by the schools as they lose grant/funding money every day when a seat is empty. Vaccinations prevent outbreaks that could deprive them of bodies in the classrooms which translates into money.

[aberaussie]

I know people who have chicken pox parties. When one child catches it, they bring their children to visit and catch it so that they won't catch it later in life. I always thought chicken pox parties was a terrible idea. But your comment makes me wonder if they have the right idea after all...

My brother-in-law got chicken pox in college. He was very, very sick. I have heard that chicken pox in children even can have ugly complications, but all four of mine had it very young and it was not much of a problem. Lots of people used my kids to expose their kids since the vaccine came out shortly after my last one had it. I had it as a child and never had to worry about it again, at least so far.

[af_vet_rr]

I know people who have chicken pox parties. When one child catches it, they bring their children to visit and catch it so that they won't catch it later in life. I always thought chicken pox parties was a terrible idea. But your comment makes me wonder if they have the right idea after all...

We didn't call it that, but when I was a little kid, a couple of kids on base caught it, and because school was out (and no chance for us to get exposed at school), my mom and a lot of other moms dragged us around to their houses, so that we all caught it.

It was a miserable experience, but in retrospect I'm glad she did it (especially given that I've visited some really crummy third world countries). While I've gotten every vaccination under the sun because of my travels, I've never had to worry about chicken pox.

I knew somebody that got it as an adult and it made my experience as a kid pale in comparison.

[arizonarachel]

It’s definitely better to have it as a child - you don’t get nearly as sick. My husband has never had chicken pox and I’m dreading when one of our children comes home with it. Hopefully he doesn't’t have to be hospitalized.