Of all health problems parents can pass to children, allergies surprisingly near top of list

I've been called a hypochondriac in my life, but it's really not true.

No, I always expect the worst with my health because, well, the worst has always happened.

And honestly I was cool with that. I accepted it. Until about 5 years ago. Because when you find out you are going to have children, you realize that every sickness you have — frequent headaches, thyroid problems, terrible eyesight, sensitive skin, whatever — are likely to be passed on to them. And that responsibility is a scary thought.

Of course, there's one thing that both me and my wife passed on to all three of our children that has wrecked more havoc on them than anything — allergies.

Both my wife and I have significant allergy problems. Mine were pretty bad as a child, and even into adulthood, but mellowed out when we moved to Yuma.

You normally don't think of a stuffy nose for six months a year as a terrible thing. But you also don't realize that a 3-month-old can't exactly blow his nose. Plus, the shelves aren't exactly brimming with “Alegra for Infants” or similar products.

But then you have your twin infants spend four days in the hospital, and you realize just how terrible stuffiness can be.

Even though that episode is in the past, the stuffiness prevails. Of course, now that my children are in an actual day care center instead of a private care worker's residence, things on the allergy front have gotten significantly worse. There is constantly a stuffy nose in our house.

Couple that with my wife, and actual hypochondriac since the birth of our first child, or a condition known as “motherhood,” freaking out about every sniffle — a somewhat justifiable fear given last year's hospital stay — and you've got yourself frequent trips to the doctor. But that's fine, cause they isolate you with other sick children so your child can get even sicker. I think they should give you plastic bubbles to put your children in when you go on a sick visit to the doctor. Of course, they would have to be single-use and disposable, but I still think there's something there.

Kid gets sick, kid gets better, kid goes to daycare, daycare gets kid gets sick, kid gets sibling sick, kids get better, daddy gets sick, daddy gets kids sick, mommy yells at daddy for getting kids sick, kids remain sick. It's a vicious circle. And it's what we're stuck with.

At least, until we get the Disposable Baby Bubble. Which the more I think about, the more applications I come up with. I do not know how this hasn't happened yet.

Get on that science.