I got the vaccine for my son. I remember when I got them at 7. It was bad! I had them all over my face.

Yeah, I guess the downside to having the illness is that it can be bad and you can get scars on your face. Especially when you're a kid - an adult might have vanity stopping them scratching, because they don't want to be scarred on their face, but a kid is likely to be more impulsive and just react instinctively by scratching the itchy bits!

I didn't scratch them. I just had them all over my face. I had some on top of each other so I got scars no matter what. I don't have a lot, I have 4 deep ones. I only got them on my face.

Gosh, you had great restraint for a 7 year old! I had them at 21, and I still scratched! ;D I have a lovely chicken pock scar on my arm, which I scratched before I realised I had chicken pox - I was all 'Ooh a blister on my arm! How did that get there?' *prod* Then I got undressed for a bath and realised I had these blisters on my tummy too!

Mine wasn't particularly brutal. I was itchy and felt a bit fluey (but obviously without the runny nose/sore throat/cough aspect of flu!).

I've had chicken pox, I was very young I don't remember having them, I had them twice but it obviously wasn't that bad as I don't remember it at all, I do know from my parents that I used to run around naked chasing my sister to infect her! I don't have any scars from them, unless I have some on my scalp which I wouldn't know about.

When I was at school my friend Robyn had chicken pox, it was year 10 so she was 14/15, she was very very ill, she got them from her little sister and she was in hospital for a while and had quite a few weeks off school.

If my children didn't have chicken pox before they went to secondary school I would vaccinate, not just because as they are older it could be worse for them, but they would be around older children most of the time so I wouldn't want to put them at risk either.

Just found an interesting article on why the UK doesn't vaccinate against chicken pox: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8557236.stm

The 'fear it could increase shingles' reason seems a bit daft, because getting the illness also increases shingles. Sure, if a person doesn't get the vaccination and also doesn't happen to catch chicken pox, then they are not going to get shingles - but then they are still at risk of getting chicken pox, which could then be serious, once they're older!

There's also the aspect that letting kids get the illness instead of vaccinating them leaves kids with weak immune systems more vulnerable to catching the disease and dying.

Chicken pox vaccine is part of the standard programme here in Australia- and after watching my six week old son suffer many yeras ago covered from head to toe - I strongly believe in the vaccination. He was too young at the time - but other children around him were NOT and I blame their parents for his illness.

This is just weird to me. I mean, I'm all for giving my child(ren) ((when I have them)) the vaccination but I think this is a bit of an extreme second choice. If you don't want to give your child the vaccination don't force them to than hang out with a child that has it or to eat a lollipop that has been licked by a sick child. Chicken Pox are dangerous for adults, so why give your child the vaccination? In fact, if I remember correctly, here in the US you can't attend school with out certain shots & I believe the Chicken Pox vaccination is one of them.

That is incorrect. Every state has exemption forms you can sign and your child can attend school without having vaccinations. It just means that in the event of a breakout, your child is to be kept at home.

Oh okay, yeah I just know my schools were always shitty about giving the exemption forms to parents, but couldn't remember if it was because they didn't offer it or if they were just being shit heads.

side note:: correction to one question---- "Chicken Pox are dangerous for adults, so why not give your child the vaccination?" sorry folks, my brain went faster then my fingers on that one.

i'm not sure if i was vaccinated...i don't think i was. in any case i never got chicken pox and my mom took me and my brother to a, what you would call, 'chicken pox party'. i kind of wish i would have got it as a child since all the health issues i have (been born with) would make it way worse.

really though, i'm such a germaphobe beyond belief i don't think i could bring myself to let my child lick the sucker of a sick child. for some reason that grosses me out way more than anything. yuck!