You are right, up to two decades ago it was normal, and indeed a good practice, to try exposing kids to varicella when they are young. Now that there is a safe

You are right, up to two decades ago it was normal, and indeed a good practice, to try exposing kids to varicella when they are young. Now that there is a safe vaccine, the better choice is vaccination because 1. Varicella is almost always mild in children, but in rare cases it can be dangerous (and these rare cases are more frequent and more severe of adverse reactions to the vaccine), and 2. Vaccination reduces the chances of hepes zoster (shingles) in old age, in comparison to having chickenpox.