After the measles outbreak in California which has since been linked to the Disneyland theme park, measles parties have been on the radar of anti-vaxxer parents. A measles party is when parents deliberately expose their children to the virus through contact with infected individuals. The thought process behind this is that the kids will develop immunity from future outbreaks by contacting the disease. Health officials are warning parents 'Don't do it!" Quite a few years back, my then 7 month old son contacted chickenpox from his 4 year old sister. The disease was making it's way through her school. They, along with just about every child I knew, spent numerous miserable days in pain and discomfort. The chicken pox vaccine didn't exist back then. If it did, I would have definitely spared my children those few difficult days. Measles are even worse. I don't understand why parents would deliberately put their children in harm's way when there is a viable option. An obvious choice, really! We can all chose to vaccinate our children. Why put your children and every other child at risk and in the process contribute to the spread of this potentially fatal disease? What are your thoughts on measles parties: brilliant or just plain crazy? photo courtesy of ...love Maegan/Flickr