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Theoretical-how would you handle this?
Saw this article on Yahoo.
A girl has such a severe allergy to peanuts, that her classmates have to wash their hands before entering the classroom, and after lunch. As well as rinse out their mouths. The 6-year-old's peanut allergy is so severe it is considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
There have been protests at the school at all the accommodations the school has had to take for this little girl.
One suggestion is to have her home-schooled.
What would you do if this was your child?
I think if it was this severe I'd definitely look into home-schooling, or private tutors like the stars have. Why put your child into an environment where her death is possible simply because the kid she sits next to brings PB&J for his lunch.
For anything you do you'll have to make special allowances, or take extra precautions, so why not in this area too? While I think her classmates can learn a lesson from this, having to put someone before themselves. I'm not sure I'd want to risk my child's life to teach a valuable lesson.
Re: Theoretical-how would you handle this?
We talked about this the other day on What's Cooking. I personally think that it is really shitty of the parents who are protesting. It is this girls life. She already has enough crap she has to deal with on a daily basis that she doesn't need a bunch of parents making her feel even more self conscious about it and I am sure those parents' kids hear those conversations about her and are giving her grief over it in school.
Plus I also think that isolating her from her peers isn't necessarily a good idea. It is a formative time for kids. She should be able to play with friends and have a good time. Not be locked away because of her allergy. Yes it is dangerous, but at the same time I don't think keeping her home 100% of the time is the right option.
All around I think it is just a really sad situation and I hope it gets better as she gets older because it will greatly affect her lift in high school, college, the working world, etc.
Accommodations are one thing and first graders could probably benefit from a round of hand washing, but if I was the parent I'd TOTALLY homeschool my child. If it's a disability that would warrant that (which sounds like it is) they should get funding from the government for it.
I'm not sure why the other parents are all fired up about it though. It must be more than the hand washing/mouth washing stuff. I'd be willing to bet money that the teachers aren't wiping out the kids mouths with disinfectant. That's crazy talk.
I lean more towards this POV. It's not like they are asking the kids to take a shower every time they eat. I kind of think the parents who are protesting sound like aholes.
I was going to say pretty much the exact same thing.
I think the parents that are protesting are ridiculous. If it was their kid, they wouldn't want someone protesting their being able to go to school.
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This poor girl could die if she's exposed and parents are complaining because their kids have to wash their hands and mouths?? This allergy is a disability and therefore the school is required to make accommodations...I don't think what they're requesting is that bad.
I just re-read my answer and I realize that I kind of wrote it out of order. While I agree 100% that the parents are being ridiculous if it's just hand washing, mouthwash rinse.
I would definitely want them to go to school if was possible, but in this case the allergy sounds so severe that I'd be paranoid all the time. I wouldn't be able to trust that a teacher can watch all the children all the time to make sure they aren't "infecting" my child with peanuts.
Teachers are stretched to the max. Believe me, I know, and that's one of the reasons I don't do it anymore. As a parent I would trust a teacher with my child's education and general safety, but I wouldn't trust that a teacher would have time to monitor my child's life or death situation on a day to day basis.
Seriously, if one kid sneaking in a peanut and touching my child may cause death, I would absolutely pull them out of school OR I'd at the very least ensure that my child had a full time paraprofessional (..and she may now - I don't see that in the article).
My boss's son's school is peanut free - they aren't allowed to bring lunches, snacks, anything. However, in this case it sounds like the allergy is so severe that if a kid ate peanut butter for breakfast and came in with it on their hands or breath she could die from interacting with this other child.
Some of the schools where I teach deal with children with peanut allergies. One very vocal parent asked that the entire school be declared peanut-free, and was accommodated. Being at an elementary school, it was fairly easy to keep track of, although I'm not sure how this was done. When this particular child went to middle school, the parent tried to get the entire middle school delcared peanut-free, and the administrators looked at her like she was crazy. Middle schools in my area (and the area where the parent in the yahoo article lives) are big. Probably close to 1000 students. The high schools typically have 3000-4000 students. I can't imagine how hard it would be to make sure that not a single student brought in anything with peanuts.
I'm usually fairly neutral about things. I don't think the parents who are protesting are being respectful of the girl's right to a public education. However, if her allergy is that severe, it could be a danger for her to be in contact with that many students.
I have mixed feelings on this.
My youngest brother (8) has a peanut allergy. He isn't that bad - but they said it will worsen each time he is exposed to peanuts. So, we're careful. His teachers know that it has to be a peanut-free classroom. But there are still issues - like my family is flying to DC next month, and although the airplane can arrange to not serve peanuts on their flight they say there will probably still be traces of peanuts in the plane from previous flights. But we work around it.
I do think this situation sounds really extreme. I would worry about the other kids still treating this child differently and perhaps teasing or resentment. I feel bad for this child. I almost think the best solution would be home schooling, because this seems a little extreme.