So what do chicken pox and living a fabulous family life have in common? Quite a lot actually.

When I was pregnant and started to pay attention more to those parenting conversations that previously seemed irrelevant, I heard alot about how it was important for children to have chicken pox when they were still young, as opposed to in their late teens or when they were all grown up. By planning, I refer to doing things such as not avoiding play dates when you know the other child has chicken pox. While chicken pox is usually a fairly mild childhood illness, I’ve still been nervous about the idea of not avoiding infected children. But when I got a phone call this weekend from my sister-in-law informing me that my nephew had the chicken pox and had most likely passed it on to my daughter, I should start looking out for symptoms. Putting down the phone, I tried to look at the positive of the situation:

- It’s still cold enough so that my daughter won’t be able to access alot of the spots but warm enough so she doesn’t need to be bundled up.
- I can plan taking sick days off to take care of her instead of having to make urgent last minute cancellations for work and friends.
- Any plans I had to drop her off at nursery or schedule a baby-sitter can be cancelled in advance.
- Knowing when the spots are likely to appear means I can plan on having some home remedies to hand (such as oatmeal baths and baking soda paste) instead of purely relying on store-bought products.
- Since I know she’s likely to be out of commission for the next few days, I can contact her play dates to let parents know what her situation is and whether they want their kids around her. Kids get so stir-crazy when they are sick, so it’s helpful to be able to plan ‘sick day’ activities and events.

Coincidentally, I have never had the chicken pox and my brother only caught them in his late 20s. So while this may be good in the long run for my daughter, it might be a bit harder for me!

Photo courtesy of flickr.