Parents, keep your germy kids at home!!!

This past Saturday, I took Emma to an Easter event at a wonderful church nearby. She had a fabulous time; she petted bunnies and chicks, played musical instruments, decorated (and ate) a cookie, created art projects, and had her picture taken with the Easter Bunny. She brought home a bunch of goodies - artwork, a duck mask, candy... and a nasty cold.

At this age, colds are super-contagious. Well, they're contagious at any age, really. But when a bunch of little kids are in the same place, touching things, putting things in their mouths (which Emma still likes to do), germs are bound to get passed around. So I'm left to think about parents who take their kids to things like this when they have colds. Why, why, why??? My little girl is suffering right now because some parent somewhere decided that his/her kid's runny nose was no big deal, and that it would be a shame for their child to miss out on fun because of the sniffles. What's a shame, though, is that I'm sure any number of kids have now caught colds because of this parents' lack of consideration.

I'm a firm believer that, if you're sick, you stay home. I've been fortunate, sure, to have jobs that were nothing special, so that I could practice this philosophy without any serious repercussions. But, think about it for a moment: you get sick, you stay home for a day, get lots of rest, you feel better and go on with your life. Or, conversely, you get sick, you show up at work and sneeze all over your cubicle, the coffee pot, the papers you're working on and that you'll pass to your coworker, and what do you know? Pretty soon everyone is sick.

Now, take that same parent who sees themselves as being "stronger than some cold" and give them kids. It doesn't take a medical degree to figure out that their snotty-nosed kids are going to be getting every other child sick. It angers me to no end, particularly since Emma has been sick for four days now, and shows no signs of feeling better. It didn't have to happen.

The upside is that she had the most fun she's had in a long time. I mean, the child was squealing and running all over the place, shouting at all the other kids there, screeching at the poor chicks, generally having a wonderful time. It's not worth the cold, but it's definitely a plus.