I've often wondered about the counterintuitive claim that children with (manageable) illness do better than their peers- sort of like the lament that these children are 'forced to grow up' too quickly- the discipline and work ethic which is necessitated in managing early disease may pay dividends in character development later on- of course the irony is that the children won't see it that way- they just yearn to be healthy like everybody else- i thought this profound wisdom was summed up by a child of thalidomide, who had grown up without arms and became a professional drummer!- he was obviously successful, and when asked if he could do it all over, would he wish to have arms- he said no, because it would fundamentally change who he was- but when asked the same about his son, he said that he would want his son to be normal, because he knows the hardships he had to endure