Alternate to non-trivial "> child" sub-selection in jquery
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The official [documentation for the child selector][1] ('>') states the following: 

> Note: The $("> elem", context) selector will be deprecated in a future release. Its usage is thus discouraged in lieu of using alternative selectors.

I currently have a selector of the form `$("> thead th:eq(" + columnIndex + ")", context)`.  What alternative syntax is suggested?

I'm aware of the .children() method, which could select the `thead` element, but would require additional selections afterwards.  Multiple selection steps seem less efficient than a single selector.

  [1]: http://api.jquery.com/child-selector/