Chickenpox Nostalgia Is Real—And Really Dangerous

[laundry_queen]

32. I think a big part of those 'parties'

was that people knew the older you were when you caught it, the more likely it would be more severe. It made sense to get little kids together so they would get chicken pox when they were more likely to have a mild case with fewer complications.

I kind of did that with my oldest daughter - she was around 18 months old and a friend called me needing a babysitter because one of her 2 kids came down with chicken pox and the daycare wouldn't take either of them until the rash cleared up (for those who don't know, that can take weeks). So I took her kids in, thinking it would be a good opportunity to get my daughter exposed. Even though it was at a very virulent time (the little boy broke out during the 3 weeks I had them) and they were sticking the same toys in their mouths, sharing sippy cups and everything, my daughter never got sick. So much for that, LOL. She was exposed 2 other times, directly, and never got sick. Then she caught them from god knows where at age 8 and had a super mild case. She's a weird one.