Let's talk food allergies-

Re: Let's talk food allergies-

• CBL member

  November 2009

  I haven't read the article - these are just my own opinions.  I don't think it's necessarily a horrible idea.  I don't think that convenience is a god enough reason, but there are A LOT of restrictions in some schools and it's tough on kids who are picky eaters or parents who for whom PB is an affordable and somewhat nutritious option.

  I remember goingto school with kids with food allergies and we didn't have any bans.  Heck, my sister is allergic to PB and we still had PB in the house.  We were taught not to share and how to properly clean up after ourselves.  

  There are no bans in real life, so I really do think the responsibility needs to be transferred back to the parent and the child and not the rest of the class.  I can see bans in younger grades, when the kids are not old enough to know the severity of it, but by the time a kid is old enough to carry an epi pen, they are old enough to know how to deal with their allergies.
  

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• Miss_Not4Long

  November 2009

  Interessant.

  Well I can see both sides of it, really. When I was in elementary school, there was a girl in my class with a bad allergy to peanuts, and if you brought peanut butter that day you were supposed to tell her, so she would move to the other side of the classroom at lunch time.

  I don't think high schools ban peanuts do they? I think it makes sense to ban them at elementary schools, like the article mentions, at least until the kid is old enough to know how to work the epi pen!!

  My cousin has anaphylaxis to fish - now that is a difficult one because everywhere cooks meat on the same grill as fish.

  There is a lot of food allergies in my family, mostly not anaphylactic, but I "get" it. Even when you can see the food, it is tough to avoid, let alone when it can be "hidden" in a granola bar, or traces on a hamburger. My Mom has quite the array of allergies, and avoiding them all was very difficult. I can't even imagine if she would have anaphylactic reactions each time, she would have been dead 10,000 times over (she is allergic to corn, among other things, but corn is in everything!!)

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• Sammy-Mae

  November 2009

  My thoughts are these.   I worked on a ship, I had a kid who had a penut allergy.  If he even touched a surface that had been touched by something that contained nuts he would go into shock.  I had to be around him all the time and I had to carry an epi pen.  The kid carried one.  I was told what to do if he happened to have a reaction and how to try and clear his airway in the event the epi pen wasn't effective.  We were out on the water so 911 was a long way away.  Scarred the bejeezus out of me to be responsible for someone who could die so easily.   I was like a tyrant and went off on the cook for not reading labels and buying icecream that contained nuts. I read every label in that galley at all meals.  I personally made sure that the dishes that boy used were sterilized and could in no way have residue on it.  I wasn't allowed to cook his food but if I was I would have. 

  He wasn't my kid.  I barely knew him.  Yet it made that the most stressful trip of my life.  It was a week I will remember forever.  I could not imagine what would happen if I were a teacher with a child with an allergy like that.  It would be something you worry about all the time.

  I learned on that trip that it takes more than two years to be able to declare yourself a nut free environment.  Penut oil can last on a surface for over a year. 

  If you are a kid who has this allergy how the hell are you supposed to protect yourself from someone's PB sandwich that they ate a year ago?  How do you protect yourself from a doorknob that somebody may have touched a week ago when they had PB on their hands?  Life and school are stressful enough without having to be worried that you could end up hospitalized at a moments notice just for going to class.  As it was that little boy I knew couldn't check out a library book or do research in his school library because somebody may have taken the book he was reading home and he my come in contact with nuts.  By making schools nut free it means that kids like him can feel safe in a place where you are supposed to feel safe.   It means that kids with nut allergies can participate in gym class, it means they can

  If you want to feed your kid PB&J, give it to them at home on the weekends and if you think a sandwhich with cheese and lunch meat is too expensive everyday then cut up some veggie sticks and fruit for lunch.  You are protecting that little kid in kindergarten who might have the same grade one teacher as your child had the year before or sit at the same table your grade 8 student may have had in his class room the year before.  It's not that much to ask. 

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