# Oh. My. God. Bonehead parents taking their kids to 'Chicken Pox Parties' **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 9, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712 "2005-03-09T20:26:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/61 "2005-03-10T00:12:02Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Even if the immunity is only good for N years, a quick shot every N years beats exposure and lifetime infection, IMO. There is no current recommendation for a re-vaccination schedule for healthy adults. We’re still flying by the seats of our pants here. ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/62 "2005-03-10T00:13:16Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > OK, I need someone with a bigger brain to explain this to me. I’m gonna try some logic, so stand back in case I break something. > > Back in the olden days, chicken pox was a fairly common childhood disease, right? I know that some children who got it had life-threatening or even life-ending cases, but that was not the norm, right? So if a kid got it and didn’t have a life-threatening case, he was generally immune forever after, because he’d likely be exposed to the virus again from other kids, and each time his immune system would go “Hey! We’ve had this before! Get that stuff we used to kill it last time!” (Or something of that sort). So now we’re vaccinating kids against it early, and so there’s not as many chickem pox bugs going around as there were, and when the virus DOES get through, the body’s immune system is unprepared for it and goes haywire? Or maybe stronger strains of the virus? > > If my logic isn’t completely fucked up, I’d be taking my kid to a chicken pox party, too. > (disclaimer - my kid already had it. I never had it, even though I was exposed both accidentally and deliberately MANY times.) Bingo, you got it. I played with my cousins when they had chicken pox because my mom wanted us to get it and get over it before we were adults. So-called “chicken pox” parties aren’t a new thing at all. Sam ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/63 "2005-03-10T00:18:29Z")
So the phenomenon of deliberately exposing a kid to chicken pox isn’t new, but what about calling it a “chicken pox party?” That’s what sounds so weird. ---
**Author:** ![Purple\_Scottie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a698b9/32.png) [@Purple\_Scottie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purple_Scottie)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/64 "2005-03-10T00:19:21Z")
I was one of the freak kids who nearly died from complications from the chicken pox. I caught it in first grade when it was going around and ended up giving it to my brother. About a month after getting over the illness, I started with the projectile vomiting, severe headaches, and falling down all the time. Then one night I could no longer walk and had a very high fever. I ended up spending a few weeks in the hospital, during which I was delirious, miserable, and scaring my parents to death. So while evidence may point towards it being okay to expose kids to it, I think it will be hard for me (if I ever have kids) to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/65 "2005-03-10T00:21:18Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I just have to ask the OP, where’ve you been that you seemingly never heard of this practice before? It’s been around forever. I never heard of it. I and all the kids I knew just got it naturally, without our parents’ going to any great lengths to make it happen. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/66 "2005-03-10T00:22:39Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Purposely exposing your children to the chickenpox is insanely irresponsible. How so? People claimed the same thing about cowpox inoculations to prevent smallpox. Mild disease now to avoid life-threatening disease later. Read my post above. And please elaborate on how that sort of behavior is “insanely irresponsible”. > [@](#): > > You are never “cured” of herpes viruses like chickenpox, your immune system is just keeping it in check while it hides in your nervous system. Reduced immunity, which can be caused by stress, can allow it to break out and cause a very painful attack of shingles. Get your kids immunized and get a booster later. The immunization is no bar to shingles. And when are they supposed to get a booster shot? We don’t know when to give an adult booster, nor even if it’s helpful, or harmful. > [@](#): > > Jesus fucking Christ, the lengths people will go to to avoid paying for a fucking shot. Um, it’s a little more involved than that > [@](#): > > [Ask a Scientist | HHMI](http://www.hhmi.org/cgi-bin/askascientist/highlight.pl?kw=&file=answers%2Fimmunology%2Fans_021.html) And what difference does the fact that the virus is not eliminated make? Again, we note that infection in adulthood is far, far more likely to maim and kill than infection in childhood, and that immunization has not yet been demonstrated to be an effective bar to infection in adulthood. But we’ll have a whole generation of adults to study to see if we did them any favors in just a few more decades. QtM, MD ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/67 "2005-03-10T01:07:44Z")
> [@GaWd](#): > > I played with my cousins when they had chicken pox because my mom wanted us to get it and get over it before we were adults. So-called “chicken pox” parties aren’t a new thing at all. Yep. It was certainly commonplace when I was growing up. One kid got and every kid that kid knew was brough around to be exposed. My momma did it to me and my siblings 30-odd years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/68 "2005-03-10T01:16:52Z")
You want real shock and awe? My mum’s friends brought their girls around when me and my brother got german measels. A great way to meet chicks, shame I was 8 and didn’t appreciate it at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/69 "2005-03-10T01:20:47Z")
Hmmm. My sister got it when she was young, and my parents decided not to let me be exposed to it. So I ended up never having it as a child. The vaccine came out when I was in my early 20’s, so I decided to go for it. This was about a decade ago. Everyone’s been talking about the position of children who get the vaccine, but what about someone like me? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/70 "2005-03-10T01:42:45Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > **Exposing healthy kids to Chicken Pox is not necessarily a bad idea!!** It is generally not a life-or health-threatening illness for most children (tho rarely bad outcomes happen). It can be a _much_ more devastating disease for adults. > QtM, MD Thank you **QtM**! I was waiting for someone to pull out the old “child abuse” ploy, the way things were going. I mean, they arleady called us tin-foil hattists. My parents gave me every shot & immunization the doctor recommended and still didn’t want to take any chances. My mother is an RN, registered nurse, and has worked in the medical profession for 30 years. When I was young (I don’t think my age is too much different than elfbabe’s) the vaccine was either not there or not very good, so my mother protected me every way she could. Jeez. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/71 "2005-03-10T01:54:11Z")
As one who used the term tinfoil hat earlier in this thread, I’d meant it only to refer to those people who feel that the chickenpox vaccine is MORE dangerous than no infection, or actual infection. Not for anyone or anything else referenced in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/72 "2005-03-10T02:48:55Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > When I was young (I don’t think my age is too much different than elfbabe’s) the vaccine was either not there or not very good I got the chicken pox at the end of fourth grade, so that would be in 1994. The day I started breaking out in spots, (the day you’re most contagious, supposedly) my sister’s friend, _undergoing chemotherapy at the time_, was visiting us. She got the vaccine as an emergency thing right after that, so I don’t think it was available on a non-emergency basis at that time. Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/73 "2005-03-10T03:16:56Z")
> [@elfbabe](#): > > I got the chicken pox at the end of fourth grade, so that would be in 1994. The day I started breaking out in spots, (the day you’re most contagious, supposedly) my sister’s friend, _undergoing chemotherapy at the time_, was visiting us. She got the vaccine as an emergency thing right after that, so I don’t think it was available on a non-emergency basis at that time. Maybe. Sorry, kid. She actually was given varicella zoster immune globulin, not the vaccine. It’s prepared from the plasma of donors with high VZ antibody titers, and leaps in to inactivate the virus, rather than trying to induce an antibody response, which won’t come for 6 weeks anyway. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/74 "2005-03-10T04:31:53Z")
Can someone please answer my question? If you’re planning to do this would it be a good idea to get the kid shot first? I’ve read that the vaccine makes all chicken pox cases milder. Thanks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/75 "2005-03-10T04:44:05Z")
> [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > You want real shock and awe? My mum’s friends brought their girls around when me and my brother got german measels. A great way to meet chicks, shame I was 8 and didn’t appreciate it at the time. I can totally see why they did that, though, and I think it was smart. If you’re a girl and you can’t be immunized against GM, you’d want to go ahead and get it before there’s any chance you can get pregnant. I missed almost 2 months of school when I had chicken pox (2nd grade?), back in, oh, '85 or so. No vaccine back then, at least not where I lived. I don’t think I was near death but it was horrible case and they just wouldn’t go away. I missed more school than anyone else in my class, and I still have scars. If I was that sick at age 8, I’d hate to see what would have happened if I hadn’t gotten it until I was 20 or so. When my daughter got the vaccine, I was always under the impression that it would merely lessen the severity of them when she does get them. I’d hardly call a CPP “abuse,” though. I see it as a lot like this: your kid gets a cavity. You can either take them to the dentist now and they suffer a bit getting shots in their gums and the cavity filled, or you can let it go until the tooth starts hurting them and gets a bad infection. Either way there’s gonna be some pain, and either way you’re going to the dentist. The decision lies in when the pain will come and how much of it there will be — now with a little pain, or later with a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/76 "2005-03-10T04:47:31Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > I never heard of it. I and all the kids I knew just got it naturally, without our parents’ going to any great lengths to make it happen. Yeah, I went to a chicken pox party as a kid. It was called “kindergarten”. Really, the way germs get spread around when you toss a bunch of kids together, why is there a need to organize an actual germ-sharing party? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/77 "2005-03-10T08:27:02Z")
> [@lavenderlemon](#): > > If you’re planning to do this would it be a good idea to get the kid shot first? I’ve read that the vaccine makes all chicken pox cases milder. Shooting your kid is a sure way to make sure they never get chicken pox. I’m always shocked at how black-and-white so many people see medicine to be. Vaccines have been a great boon to humanity, and have saved countless lives. But vaccines are not always the best solution, and sadly medicine doesn’t always have a perfect solution for everything. All medical decisions must be weighted against reality, not a medicine-is-perfect dreamworld. Chicken pox is a good example of this. How many of you know where (or even what) your yellow sheet is? How many of you are up on your boosters? How many of you can be sure your children will have access to medical care their whole lives and won’t have to choose between the chicken pox booster or a bag of groceries? How do you know they won’t just get sick of making it, like they have with a few other vaccines? By getting a chicken pox vaccine and avoiding exposure to chicken pox, you are commiting your kid to getting (and paying for) what is probably seven or eight shots in their lifetime in order not to get a fairly serious disease. By exposing your kid to chicken pox, you are putting them at a some risk, but a risk that is not weighted against some riskless perfection but against the very real risks that come with the vaccine (mostly, that the vaccine may open a window to get a infection as an adult). Note that infections after having the disease are mild, but nobody knows what the infections that result from a lapsed vaccine may be. Neither one of the deals are all that great. But it doesn’t plunge you in to tinfoil hat land just because you want to know and weigh all the options. We must also remember that our “eliminate all risk” attitude in medicine really has had some bad consequences. Children are getting allergies once reserved for adults because they don’t get exposed to enough dirt and dust. Overuse of anti-biotics is mutating bacteria into more dangerous bacteria. In medicine, what doesn’t kill you often does make you stronger, and sheltering kids from the germs and diseases they will be around for the rest of their life isn’t always the best plan. ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/78 "2005-03-10T11:30:12Z")
I had it at 14, and was horribly sick for almost a month. Came _this_ close to having to be hospitalized due to extremely high fever, all the pox marks hemmoraged, and I have (mostly very faded) scars all over my body to this day. I was _far_ too sick to be the host of any chicken pox party, but my 5-year younger brother caught it from me. Barely even phased him other than the itchiness. I’d much rather have had it younger. ---
**Author:** ![Arwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Arwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arwin)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/79 "2005-03-10T12:47:29Z")
> [@even sven](#): > > Shooting your kid is a sure way to make sure they never get chicken pox. > > I’m always shocked at how black-and-white so many people see medicine to be. Vaccines have been a great boon to humanity, and have saved countless lives. But vaccines are not always the best solution, and sadly medicine doesn’t always have a perfect solution for everything. All medical decisions must be weighted against reality, not a medicine-is-perfect dreamworld. Chicken pox is a good example of this. > > How many of you know where (or even what) your yellow sheet is? How many of you are up on your boosters? How many of you can be sure your children will have access to medical care their whole lives and won’t have to choose between the chicken pox booster or a bag of groceries? How do you know they won’t just get sick of making it, like they have with a few other vaccines? > > By getting a chicken pox vaccine and avoiding exposure to chicken pox, you are commiting your kid to getting (and paying for) what is probably seven or eight shots in their lifetime in order not to get a fairly serious disease. By exposing your kid to chicken pox, you are putting them at a some risk, but a risk that is not weighted against some riskless perfection but against the very real risks that come with the vaccine (mostly, that the vaccine may open a window to get a infection as an adult). Note that infections after having the disease are mild, but nobody knows what the infections that result from a lapsed vaccine may be. Neither one of the deals are all that great. But it doesn’t plunge you in to tinfoil hat land just because you want to know and weigh all the options. > > We must also remember that our “eliminate all risk” attitude in medicine really has had some bad consequences. Children are getting allergies once reserved for adults because they don’t get exposed to enough dirt and dust. Overuse of anti-biotics is mutating bacteria into more dangerous bacteria. In medicine, what doesn’t kill you often does make you stronger, and sheltering kids from the germs and diseases they will be around for the rest of their life isn’t always the best plan. I second your post completely, except that I would change the first line to: Shooting your kid is a way to make sure they are _not likely to_ get chicken pox _as a child_. The rest of your post goes better with the first sentence after these changes. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Arwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Arwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arwin)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712/80 "2005-03-10T12:50:22Z")
Darn, I forgot to mention that when I was young we got the vaccin only if we hadn’t had the disease before a certain age. I’m not sure if it still works that way but it makes a lot of sense. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-god-bonehead-parents-taking-their-kids-to-chicken-pox-parties/293712.md?page=5)