I think that many young parents and not so young parents are
missing the old requirement that their immunity levels be checked during a
premarital physical since maybe more babies are born now without their
parents being married. I think some of this should be done now in high
school where many girls are pregnant by the time they graduate.
All of my memories of being ill as a child--and I was chronically
ill between the time I was home with my parents due to immune dysfunction
that began with a six weeks sore throat when I was nine--are rotten bad
examples of how anyone sick should be treated. The world being what it
is, I think there are many children who have bad experiences as there are
children who have good ones. Some children you must remember are even
brutalized and unprotected while ill at home when almost everyone else is
gone.
My experience was more one of personal militarization since my
father equated my illness to some degree with the battle fatigue he
developed at the end of World War II.
I think instead of romanticizing childhood illness we should fight
against it and find a sick neighbor, friend, or relative. We could teach
our children to care for people who are ill by demonstration.
Kathleen
