Parents: H1N1 Parties Not A Good Idea

Years ago, there were mothers who would throw chicken pox parties. If they found that one of their friends had chicken pox in the house, they’d deliberately expose them to the virus so they could control (so to speak) when their children would get sick. I think the idea seemed to make sense to some people, but the idea of deliberately exposing children to illness that could develop into something quite serious, seems a bit misguided.

Now that the chicken pox has a vaccine, the chicken pox parties seem to be on the wain. But now, there’s a new type of party that’s making its rounds: the H1N1 party.

That’s right, some parents are deliberately exposing their children to the H1N1 virus, the so-called swine flu, in the hopes that they make their children resistant to it when it makes its rounds in the schools in the fall. Unfortunately, there are some serious flaws to that way of thinking.

1- There are no guarantees that the flu virus won’t mutate, making itself into a totally new virus. Thus, you’ll have made your child sick for nothing.

2- The most important flaw is: Influenza can make your child VERY ill and it can also cause death.

Some people are getting a false sense of security with the H1N1 virus because it does seem milder than the seasonal flus that make the rounds. But that doesn’t take away that some people – including children – have died as a result of complicaitons from the H1N1 virus. Do you seriously want to take that risk? What if it is your child who is that one in so many who becomes seriously ill? Would you want to live with knowing that you deliberately made your child ill?

That’s not a chance I would take nor is it one that doctors recommend, including doctors like Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. David Butler-Jones.

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