Back In My Day,

blowing out candles on the birthday cake was all part of the fun of the party,

I just did not realise how life threating this practise was, but now new guidelines from Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council have come to the rescue of thousands of children that are at risk, Australian children are to be banned from blowing out candles together on birthday cakes, the reason being that they could be puffing germs onto one another, but to keep up the party cheer youngsters attending birthday parties will be told to take along individual cup cakes on which to place single candles,


under the same guidelines children are also now expected to wash their hands before jumping into a sandpit to play with their friends and day care staff will also be instructed to wash toys, doorknobs floors and cushion covers every day to prevent the spread of germs, so I guess it is only a matter of time before these rules will be accepted worldwide,

the guidelines have astonished Australian Medical Association president Mr Steve Hambleton, 'if somebody sneezes on a cake, I probably don’t want to eat it either – but if you’re blowing out candles, how many organisms are transferred to a communal cake, for goodness sake?’ Mr Hambleton also attacked the new sandpit rules, saying that all that was necessary was for children to wash their hands before they ate, ‘it’s normal and healthy to be exposed to a certain amount of environmental antigens that building up our immune systems',


well thats what I would have thought, only a few days ago I commented to Mr. Tony, back at school in the 1950s and 1960s from memory there was only one chap who could be called 'chubby' at senior school, with some 700+ pupils, nut allergy? no such thing, a letter from Mum asking for you to be let off PE? you have got to be joking! it seems that kids are treated with kid gloves and kept in cotton wool these days,


as Mr Hambleton commented, 'it’s normal and healthy to be exposed to a certain amount of environmental antigens that building up our immune systems, if you live in a plastic bubble you’re going to get infections (later in life) that you can’t handle,’ I wonder what modern kids kids will be suffering from in years to come.