Yup, that's how it goes all right. I'm pretty careful about germ exchange, but it's really hard to control that. Our 2-yr old caught a stomach flu from a baby's toys recently, and yah, we got it, too.<br><br>
I have to say I am constantly amazed to see people bringing their sick kids to play groups and daycares. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/irked.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="irked">: I hear things like, "oh, he threw up all night but now he seems better..." Hello!! Most gastro bugs are contagious for several days after symptoms disappear, and the germs can live on surfaces for over a week. Of course, then you have colds where you are contagious before you have symptoms, so that's hard to manage.<br><br>
I actually pulled our son out of a morning drop-off day care he just loved because he was getting sick every 3 weeks.<br><br>
As for the whole "getting sick makes them stronger" theory, I asked our naturopath and in her opinion, that is false. She said that we don't build our immune systems by getting sick. And with colds and stomach flus, it's not like getting them once makes you immune, because there are so many different mutations. But I don't know about the allergy angle, though.<br><br>
Ultimately, it depends on what you are willing to tolerate. I have friends who are very cavalier about that and think getting sick is just par for the course. We try to avoid it, which means we will leave play groups or break plans if we know someone has been or is sick. I'm sure people think that's uptight, but we don't care. I'd rather be uptight than put all of us through the stomach flu again! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad">
