Party Til You Puke

I just heard on the news that some parents are hosting H1N1 parties for their kids. Apparently you find someone infected with the virus and take your kids to that person’s house with the hope that your little tykes will also be infected and develop immunity.

Sounds like a fun party full of wonderful childhood memories, doesn’t it? I can just imagine years from now my children reminiscing.

“Remember the time Mom infected us on purpose with that horrible flu and we thought we were going to die? ... Good times. Good times.”

“Yeah, we were going to have a Russian Roulette themed party, but Party Source was all out of child-sized revolvers. Darn the luck.”

"The trip to the hospital was fun though, right?  I didn't even know what an IV was until then."

Okay, maybe I’m coming at this from an overprotective mothering mode. I confess I’m the mother who always uses the Clorox wipes to sanitize the cart at the grocery store. I have bottles of sanitizer in my purse, my car, every bathroom of the house and the garage (don’t ask.). If my kids sneeze on the sleeve of their shirts, I whip out the bleach and toss the whole snotty mess into the washer.

You can understand why the thought of purposefully exposing my children to the swine flu bothers me so much. I’m probably also a little sensitive because two young people died from this flu in our small community late this summer. When I think of an H1N1 party, I imagine the hostess passing out hospital bracelets at the door.

So if you’re planning on inviting me and my children to a flu party, I’ll have to decline. I think we’ll be busy with safer activities. Like playing with fire or throwing butcher knives at each other.