Thursday, 27 September 2012
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Food Allergies and School
So, this morning I had the pleasure of reading another news article that yet again points out how insane the public school systems are becoming. Feel free to read this. Yes, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, according to this school, is considered a weapon. This I find interesting since you can't physically beat someone up with said sandwich. It is in fact, creamy, yummy peanut goodness with a hint of sweetness in the jelly. I hardly see this as a weapon, if anything I see this as a yummy treat, meal, or even a midnight snack.
Now, since we are in the process of starting our daughters testing and enrolling her into public school, we as parents had a long conversation with her just this week because she wanted to know what she was allergic to, what Daddy was allergic to, and what I'm allergic to. We went over her allergies and made sure she understood why she can't have certain foods. In short, she's really only allergic to oranges and raspberries, and only once did her daycare mess up and give her oranges. Yes, she broke out. Yes, we were a bit annoyed because it was filed in her paperwork, but she had the weekend off so in the long run she had time to get over her reaction before returning to her daycare the following Monday. Now, her reactions aren't that bad, just basically a rash that's not even itchy to her (but it looks horrible).
Anyways, whatever happened to parents educating their kids about their allergies and making them aware of it themselves? By the time your child hits kindergarten or even first grade your child should know about their allergies and how to use their words enough to know not to take certain things from others. When we had the incident with the daycare, our daughter was just learning how to use her words, so she didn't know to speak up like she does now. I think in general the schools want to put these kids in a bubble. Why should every child be punished over one allergy? Again, my daughter has an allergy to oranges, but I'm not yelling and screaming at the top of my lungs that all oranges and orange juice should be taken out of the schools. Yes, I understand peanut allergies are horrible. In fact, fish allergies can get pretty serious as well. I know this because my husband is highly allergic to certain types of fish. It's very rare to run into any adult who doesn't have an allergy of some sort. Realistically if you have an allergy you have to learn how to deal with it. Once you get into the workforce or even into college they aren't going say no one can have peanut butter just because you are allergic to it. Nope, they expect you to manage your allergy on your own. The other children shouldn't have to suffer because of everyone else. How about we go and teach these kids about how to manage their allergy and how to manage others having peanut butter around them? The earlier you teach your children about how to manage their allergies the better. Children do know how to handle themselves if you give them the shot to do so. A lot of these schools aren't even giving kids a chance to see if they can handle themselves. Instead, they just put them in a happy bubble where they don't have to worry.
As a parent who has a husband who has allergies and a daughter who has a few allergies as well, I do have to check what's in what and be careful about both my children(yes, I did just include my husband in with my daughter - LOL) but still I keep an eye on what comes into this house and who eats it. Since I handle the grocery shopping I tend to be aware of things, so of course if I pack my daughters lunch she won't have anything she's allergic to in it. And if I make dinner, I make sure to avoid making certain fish (unless my husband already has another dinner planned for himself). As of this week our daughter is aware of what she's not suppose to eat...and yes, I understand that kids do trade lunches and lunch items. I did it when I was a kid which is fine. BUT, if your child is educated and knows what they aren't suppose to have then they will know better than to trade one item for another one that they are allergic to.
In short, don't let the whole population of kids suffer because of allergies - give them a shot to use their voice and educate your children yourself about certain conditions they may have regardless of what it is. Give our kids a shot to be responsible for themselves instead of just shoving them into a bubble.
Do your kids have any food allergies? How do you deal with them in school?
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Comments (23)
I agree that banning food is pretty extreme. But your kids are allergic to raspberries and oranges, which are pretty easy foods to avoid. When you're allergic to dairy or lactose or nuts, it's not as easy for kids to know what to eat. It's all very well educating your kids, and it's great, but first graders can't be expected to read food packaging and know whether chocolate or cereal bars contain nuts or lactose or certain flavourings or additives. And you can educate your kids about not eating foods that you haven't approved of, but kids are kids - if all their friends are eating something, they'll want some too.
I had a friend who had such a severe nut allergy that she had trouble breathing if she smelled peanut butter.
I don't think you ended up saying..did the school say it was a weapon because some kids were allergic?
I heard of of school who banned peanut butter completely because one kid was so severely allergic. He couldn't even smell it or his lips would swell. I just think that is ridiculous. Now if it was something like cucumbers, lol, then I can see them asking no one to bring that food into lunch. But peanut butter?! Every kid brings peanut butter. I am all for creating a safe environment for every kid, but when you are effecting hundreds of other kids, maybe that one should eat in the classroom and not enter the cafeteria.
I agree it sucks but growing up in a low income family my food was penut butter. Couldn't afford much else other then risk the free hot lunch that wasn't always cooked so well. Not to mention I have food allegies and the school still served those things.
Milk, shell fish, blue berries, and some pepper I haven't figured it out yet. It's sometimes just a rash and sometimes swelling that complicates breathing. It sucks and yes it is nice if parents want to comply and can but I wouldn't expect anyone too if pb&j is what they could afford.
btw I am gonna go eat a pb&j now :D
So fates have decreed I should not write my long comment since the one I was working on disappeared.
I am still wondering where compassion went for children who - through no fault of their own - have caused people who don't like to be inconvenienced to think that someone else's life isn't worth much effort.
The problem is where will it stop. If the children who have peanut allergy sat in a special place for lunch away from the other children would this not solve the problem, specific to the article linked. But then what happens if children are allergic to shrimp, no shrimp in children's lunchboxes. Or what if a child is allergic to grass, oh no get rid of all the grass in the school, or pollen, ok get rid of all the flowers in the school.
Yes peanut allergy's are now more common, so stick the children who are allergic to peanuts, in a separate sealed room to eat lunch, and to not disadvantage other children who like peanut products in their lunch.
Schools should be focusing or helping people with autism spectrum disorders, making the school wheelchair acessable, helping children who fall behind in school catchup, and helping children who need a bit more help with learning to read and write. Protecting children from bullies, and actually educating the next generation of children, so that they can make the country competitive again.
There's a child at my husband's school who goes into full blown anaphylaxis shcck, airway shuts down, the whole nine yards, if he even smells a nut. According to what I've read here, you think it's ridiculous for schools to take drastic action for kids with allergies. This kid could die before the paramedics arrived so, there is a separate table, well labeled, that has peanut butter or other nut foods, and it's far removed from the other tables. He's well versed enough to stay away. Is it worth the life of one child, in a school of 600? It would be if it was your child. The school officials just take it a year at a time, child at a time, and do the very best they can. That's all anyone can do. And since every child is due a public education, we even saw a boy last year in a wheelchair on life support whose parents didn't know if he could understand anything. So, before he went to Special Ed, my husband's class would gather round "Johnny" and just talk to him, rub his hands, let him know he was part of the social aspect of the class. Again, one year at a time, one kid at a time.
Haha, yeah, people without food allergies really don't get it sometimes.
Peanut allergies can be very severe... much worse than an unattractive rash. If something can cause death in someone, couldn't it be used as a weapon? What with the way kids are bullying each other and being violent, I'm not really surprised that a food has been classified that way. I think they are acknowledging that some little sh*t might get it into his head to torment the allergic kid, and they're making sure that it's taken seriously. I don't have an allergy that will kill me, but eating wheat makes me feel pretty sick. I wouldn't ask other people not to have it around me, but my sensitivity isn't THAT hardcore. I had a chef who was so allergic to carrots that just touching them made him break out in hives. I've heard of the same thing with bananas. If this was a private school, then obviously the school could choose to accept or not accept as a student someone who would so disrupt the other students' lunches with their allergy. And the other parents could decide whether it was worth it or not- no big deal, no coercion on any party. Since it's a public school though, every child has to be accommodated.It's not about putting them in a bubble. If it's fairly common for even the smell of something to be enough to trigger an allergic reaction, then it's reasonable to ban it from a school lunchroom. By the time you're in college, you have the option of taking care of yourself and just taking your meal elsewhere if the cafeteria has airborne allergens. In grade school you don't. In grade school you're required to be in the lunchroom during lunch, usually at a particular table, and if you try to move to get away from a smell the teachers will stop you.
I've been waiting for this to hit xanga. Waiting for the scenario itself to happen for years.
I am really not on the side of 'screwing everyone over' for the sake of a few people. No, I don't have kids with allergies, but even if I did, I certainly wouldn't expect the rest of the world to cater to my child. Hello, the real world has peanut butter and *gasp* peanuts.
People can be allergic to darn near anything, so nobody can have lunch at school. Or latex. Or nickel. Or... anything. We must all live in hypoallergenic, breathable (with a filter) bubble wrap. Done. Oh, and it must, of course, have temperature controls and be certain to be opaque from our neck down so as nobody gets offended by a shoulder or knee. *rolls eyes*
I love peanut butter. I don't send my kids to school with it because IF someone's kid was allergic, and IF that kid died because I was too lazy or selfish to make something different, I couldn't live with myself. There are only 7 top allergens. Of the 7, peanuts and tree nuts are the most frequent causes of death. There must be 700,000,000 other foods my kid can eat in school. I can avoid the seven. It doesn't seem to me that protecting children from things that can kill them is "putting them in a bubble." We don't leave loaded guns lying around in the school. We monitor children when they go swimming. We have crossing guards to help them cross streets. Being children, they make mistakes. As adults, we try to teach them without unnecessarily endangering their lives.
@randaness@xanga - Did you just ask about common sense...?
Brains? In MY US? It's less common than you think!
I do not agree with your article at all. I am a preschool teacher, I have been for only a short time (2 years), but in those two years I've seen some very critical break outs and reactions from people not following our food rules. We are a peanut free preschool, and there have been incidents where parents send their child in with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and that child eats said sandwich, and then goes to class without washing their hands, and touches the child who is allergic on the face, or the hands, and the peanut butter gets transferred to their mouth, and it's a horrible reaction and it's something that could have been avoided by following the rules. The rules are there for a reason, to protect the children. They aren't telling you that you're not allowed to eat it at home, eat whatever you want on the way to school, or at home, but do you really think your child can't last for a length of a school day without having peanut butter? I think they'll be okay, for the safety of everyone else.
23 years later and I have absolutely no allergies. I do agree - we should be teaching children how to live in the real world, but baby them and punish other children. What if your kids favorite food is pb&j?
maybe those kids and parents are weak, or have bad genes.... there are a lot of people on the planet, and Im sure there will be plenty more to take up the space created, and fill up the remaining empty space, without hesitation....
Shit happens.... I love peanut butter. eat it all the time. If I had a special little wonderous miracle that was allergic, I'd probably take peanut butter... can make another kid, and hopefully the allergy roulette will give it something, if any, that is easier to avoid and doesn't screw job everyone else's life.
The needs of the many outweight the needs of the few.
Natural Selection and Evolution favour the strong...
How many dickweeds do you meet or have to deal with, everyday? Kids are the same.
A couple of winners, a lot of losers....
Maybe the chemicals we come into contact with on a day to day basis, and the heavily processed foods we eat, are slowly fucking us all up, making random vicious allergies, and other disorders and problems that we're all slowly showing more of, is natures way of trying to whittle us down to a sustainable size for this planet we're continue to chew up....
life started a loooooong time ago, and will continue long after we're all gone....
Sometimes it's not as obvious as a peanut butter sandwich. I've had allergic reactions to the most random things. You know that little label that says "May contain traces of peanuts?" That's where it gets risky. I've been in the hospital more than once because those who were supposed to read these things for me failed to do so. I've nearly gone into anaphylactic shock from JELLY BEANS because someone didn't read the labels for me. A child may trade something in their lunch that they are not aware they are allergic to. Ex: An oatmeal cookie manufactured in a facility that processes nuts. A child, even if they have been fully educated on their allergy, will not always see their allergy in plain sight. It can be a sneaky little bitch. There are many things someone with a peanut allergy should not be eating. Especially because cross contamination is a possibility. An orange is very easy to identify and stay away from if you are allergic to it. A reeses peanut butter cup may just look like chocolate to a child with a peanut allergy. I don't think it's the child's job to look after these things. It doesn't have to be banned from schools, but it should be part of the lunch ladies/teachers/other adults in the school's job to make sure children don't eat what they aren't supposed to. I think this post is incredibly insensitive. An adult can look after themselves, a child cannot.
@ordinarybutloud@xanga - IF everyone avoids risk, the world will grow to suck beyond description. Your reason for advocating REMOVAL OF PB&J (???) is selfish - because YOU couldn't live with yourself if someone else's kid stupidly ate it and died. You're insane. Your fear, and the fear of everyone like you is destroying the world.
@skeptic42@xanga - Stupidly ate it? You are telling me a child is stupid for eating something they are allergic to because they DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE ALLERGIC TO IT?! Read my comment above yours. Maybe then you'll understand. A very young child will not know what to stay away from because allergies can be hidden inside of so many other foods.
A little much to say the removal of pb&j is destroying the world, don't you think?
@wildchildofthebluemoon@xanga - Can they not eat the pb&j outside of school...? Are they truly being "punished" for not being able to eat a sandwich at lunch time in school?
Why can't the kids just eat lunch when they get home? Seriously guys, this is so stupid.