Back when my kids were younger, most parents had sense to keep their ill kids at home. My two older ones got it from kids in their class. My youngest daughter got hers from a playmate. Who proudly showed up on my door step in his spider-man briefs and said ..."He couldn't play with Stacey for 5 to 7 days cause he had chicken pox". I laughed and walked him two doors down to his house. Then called the Pediatrician for an appt.

We didn't"set up" play-dates to infect others when the kids were growing up. Like they do now.

I have heard of pox parties in the past (I am 55) but am surprised they are still going on. there is a vaccine for chickenpox, so why would you WANT your kids to get it, especially since it can lead to shingles?

Well, all I can say is that when you turn 60, make sure YOU get a vaccine for shingles if you had chicken pox as a child. My brother almost lost his eyesight from having a shingle appear in his eye. Plus the pain just about sent him around the bend. Shingles are avoidable now that a vaccine is available for those over 60. Take the time to get it.

When my children were young we had pox parties every year. We called it "sending them to school." It also worked for measles and mumps. When I was a child it worked for polio also.

In the 1940s, the pertussis vaccine, combined with diphtheria and tetanus toxoids (DTP), was introduced. By 1976, the incidence of whooping cough in the U.S. had decreased by over 99%. During the 1980s, however, the incidence of whooping cough began to increase and has risen steadily, with epidemics typically occurring every three to five years in the U.S. In the epidemic of 2005, 25,616 cases were reported according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2008, over 13,000 cases of whooping cough were reported in the U.S., resulting in 18 deaths. In 2010, which included an epidemic in California (see below), 27,550 cases of pertussis were reported nationwide.
In 2010, a pertussis epidemic was declared in California. This outbreak included 9,143 cases of pertussis (including 10 infant deaths) throughout California. This was the highest number of cases reported in an outbreak since 1947. In the previous epidemic of 2005, California recorded 3,182 cases and eight deaths.

That vaccine has been around quite a while. I had whooping cough as a child, and it is no party, believe me.

I know this is going to sound tacky and heartless, but how many of those cases were from another country where immunizations are not common and how many were from parents who were afraid of the vacines??

[QUOTE=3incollege;5203732]They never had immunizations for that, untill recently[/QUOTE

What do you mean by recently? I am 65 and was the child at 2 mo. with whooping cough. (Poor Mamma) but my kids now 37 and 34 had DPT shots when they were young - Diptheria, Pertussis (whooping cough) and Tetnus. (Of course, when you consider the history of mankind, that is quite recently, even though in my lifetime, it is a quite a while ago)

It is so amazing what we know now compared even to a few years ago. It is hard for me to believe that there are so many who don't immunize their children. Sometimes I think we have so much information that we confuse ourselves!

Yep, I remember pox parties / playdates. The facebook part is just the new social media take on it... seems a little weird but not surprising. Mailing an infected lollipop - now that's weird!

My Mom was a school teacher and every year at the end of school she would find out what kids had what .. chicken pox etc . and she would send us over to play so we would get these assorted germs in the summer and not during the school year. That way neither her or us would miss a day of school. Back "then" it was the only method of management, in other words , you knew your kids were most likely going to get it .. it was just a matter of when.
An issue facing all of us in the land of germ paranioa is that all the germicides are actually keeping us from developing strong immune systems. In order for your body to develope a strong immune system it has to be exposed to germs!

Well advertising is a new twist but the party's have a lot of benefits-you only miss work once for each of those childhood bugs.Years back when my older GBs were in school my DIL took her vacation days to host these parties and my son did the same but he came to work for us so he didn't get sick-as an only child he never caught the diseases so as an adult they would have been a lot harder on him