REST easy people. The mortal danger from blowing out candles on a birthday cake has been identified and can now be stopped.
How did the human race survive before lengthy government papers identified and had solutions for the myriad of hidden risks that threaten our existence at every turn?
We should all be thankful for the release of the nearly 200-page NHMRC document titled Staying Healthy - Preventing infectious diseases in early childhood education and care services. The following is from Part 3.6.2:
"Children love to blow out their candles while their friends are singing ‘happy birthday’. To prevent the spread of germs when the child blows out the candles, parents should either:
- provide a separate cupcake (with a candle if they wish) for the birthday child and enough cupcakes for all the other children.
- provide a separate cupcake (with a candle if they wish) for the birthday child and a large cake that can be cut and shared."
What a load of nonsense. Firstly this assumes children will be sick on their birthday. You can only pass on a virus if you have one. If they are well enough to attend they can hardly be about to infect their friends with the plague.
Secondly, whilst it is true that viruses are spread through the air, the force of the breath is not a factor. So whether a child is breathing normally or blowing, any virus that they may have still enters the atmosphere and may be inhaled by others. Cold type viruses will be destroyed by stomach acid if swallowed rather than inhaled.
Most importantly, colds are part of life. To develop a healthy immune system a child needs exposure to viruses. Much like you will never learn to walk without falling over, you will not develop a strong immune system without it fighting off some viruses.
Colds may not be pleasant but they are not fatal, they pass and are better had more frequently before entering school when time off sick means missing lessons.
Part of normal childhood development is socialisation. Sharing is part of this. What message does it send a preschooler that they are “unclean” and their cake is not fit to be shared?
To use a cliche - this is the nanny state gone mad. The Health Minister Tanya Plibersek, after launching the guidelines, backed away, telling reporters “we’re not going to have the cupcake police out" and "there’s a degree of common sense required".
Is that so?
When has any edict from government been applied with common sense? And the reference to cupcake police is disingenuous. Childcare centres rely on government funding and accreditation. To get this they need to comply with so called “best practice”.
So if a government agency deems best practice as not allowing birthday celebrations, they can count on fear of funding cuts for the centres to implement the policy, oops guideline.
Stopping children celebrating birthdays with their friends in reality represents social engineering. The health and safety card is played to mask this and allow anyone against it to be accused of “risking lives”.
Part of good health means enjoying life. Only those in ivory towers and bureaucracy with no connection to the real world would seek to deny children a birthday cake shared with friends.