Peanut Butter Rules

[Anonymous]

Our school is nut free, so we wash our child's hands and change his clothes after breakfast. We also don't bring peanut butter to the park. It's not a public norm to be nut free (e.g., free peanuts on flights). We just don't want to be the cause of someone else's allergic reaction.

[Anonymous]

It has never once crossed my mind to avoid feeding certain foods to my kids in public in case there happens to be another kid in the vicinity who might have an allergy to something my kids are eating. I am more than fine with complying with the nut-free policy at my kids' school or in other situations where parents have asked everyone to avoid nuts, but it's ridiculous to do that in a general public setting just in case someone with a nut allergy happens to be around.

[Anonymous]

I mean this as kindly as possible but you are way WAY overreacting. To end a friendship over a friend brining PB to the park, when you have no allergies in your family, is absolutely nuts.

We have a very good friend whose son has a peanut allergy and I spend a ton of time (and money) to make my son’s birthday parties 100% safe for him. It is worth it to me because we love our friend and he deserves to be included in the party like every other kid. That is to say, I really respect and care about dangerous allergies. But I will bring a PBJ for him to a playground (as long as that specific friend isn’t with us). Peanut butter isn’t a controlled substance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like not eating peanut butter in public should become thought of as a social norm instead of an accommodation. If this is lethal why take the risk. That’s insane. I feel like it should come with an FDA warning label.

BUT... where does this start and stop? For other children peanuts are fine but some or all of the following are life and death:

eggs (including baked into muffins and cookies)
dairy (yes, this means milk but also yogurt, cheese, cream cheese, ice cream...)
meat (yup - this is real)
soy
legumes like peas, beans, etc - and like peanuts, since they are a legume not a nut
seeds (like sesame seeds or pine nuts - again, a seed not a nut)
tree nuts - including almonds, hazelnuts, macadamia, cashews, pecans, pistachios, brazil.... and whatever nuts I'm forgetting right now
but some people (like me) are allergic only to almonds, not to ALL tree nuts - so it gets more confusing

I direct a preschool program - and we won't allow peanuts or tree nuts or both when a child who attends is allergic to one or more of these. BUT.... we currently have a child who is allergic to eggs and peanuts - but we only say no to peanuts - not eggs. Is that right? It's a double standard, isn't it? But children with allergies have limited food choices because of their allergies (and depending on the # of allergies this can be a problem) BUT we shouldn't require all children attending a preschool to stay away from the same foods for no reason and create limits to their food too, right?

I mean, at one point we had a child who was allergic to SEVEN items on the list above - which obviously seriously limited her food options - is that what all 75 other children at our school should do? Obviously not.

[Anonymous]

I have a daughter with peanut and treenut allergies, and I let my son consume peanuts in the same room as her so I'd say you are way overreacting.

We don't usually eat peanut products since it's not something I buy because of DD. But for example, when we were visiting relatives, DS ate a bagel with peanut butter on it and DD was in the room. I just make sure to clean him and the table up well when he was done. At Halloween, I let my son eat a Reese's Pieces or a Snickers. (Heck, I usually eat them with him.) Again, I make sure he washes up well and that there are no crumbs on the ground.

[Anonymous]

LOL that you would end a friendship over a mom bringing PB&J to the playground. This is next level insanity.

[Anonymous]

OP, are you or your kids allergic? If not, I’m having a hard time understanding your outrage. People eat peanut butter all the time. Yes, many people are allergic but I’ve never heard it banned anywhere besides a preschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like not eating peanut butter in public should become thought of as a social norm instead of an accommodation. If this is lethal why take the risk. That’s insane. I feel like it should come with an FDA warning label.

BUT... where does this start and stop? For other children peanuts are fine but some or all of the following are life and death:

eggs (including baked into muffins and cookies)
dairy (yes, this means milk but also yogurt, cheese, cream cheese, ice cream...)
meat (yup - this is real)
soy
legumes like peas, beans, etc - and like peanuts, since they are a legume not a nut
seeds (like sesame seeds or pine nuts - again, a seed not a nut)
tree nuts - including almonds, hazelnuts, macadamia, cashews, pecans, pistachios, brazil.... and whatever nuts I'm forgetting right now
but some people (like me) are allergic only to almonds, not to ALL tree nuts - so it gets more confusing

I direct a preschool program - and we won't allow peanuts or tree nuts or both when a child who attends is allergic to one or more of these. BUT.... we currently have a child who is allergic to eggs and peanuts - but we only say no to peanuts - not eggs. Is that right? It's a double standard, isn't it? But children with allergies have limited food choices because of their allergies (and depending on the # of allergies this can be a problem) BUT we shouldn't require all children attending a preschool to stay away from the same foods for no reason and create limits to their food too, right?

I mean, at one point we had a child who was allergic to SEVEN items on the list above - which obviously seriously limited her food options - is that what all 75 other children at our school should do? Obviously not.

I was actually in an elementary school today that had an "allergy safe" classroom that banned, no joke: tree nuts, peanuts, cow's milk, eggs, and strawberries. I assume the idea was to put all the kids with allergies in one room and then keep it free of their allergens, but man, I felt for those parents--as if allergy parents don't have enough to watch out for, they now also can't send every other protein that their kid isn't allergic to?? Oy. (And I guess yay that there is apparently no kid allergic to soy this year?)

My children's preschool class (which has a reasonable policy of banning foods in individual classrooms if a child in the class is allergic) did ban all nuts in response to a tree nut allergy, and I know the parents of the tree nut allergic child (the only food allergy in the class) tried in vain to get peanuts added back because it was all their child would eat since he couldn't have almond or cashew butter and refused to eat sunflower seed butter. No dice, though.

[Anonymous]

Calling Troll on this one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like not eating peanut butter in public should become thought of as a social norm instead of an accommodation. If this is lethal why take the risk. That’s insane. I feel like it should come with an FDA warning label.

What?!
OP and this poster are just trolling us, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like not eating peanut butter in public should become thought of as a social norm instead of an accommodation. If this is lethal why take the risk. That’s insane. I feel like it should come with an FDA warning label.

What?!
OP and this poster are just trolling us, right?

One can only hope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So let me get this straight, no peanut butter in the AM before daycare/school. No peanut butter at school. No peanut butter at the park. So, when can you eat peanut butter? At night? That is non-sense. Wash/wipe down your hands and that is just fine.

Nope, not at night because it will still be on their hands in the morning before school. So never. It's never ok. I mean, I sympathize immensely with people whose kids have allergies, and I feel very fortunate not to have that concern, but I wouldn't even consider ending a friendship over that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like not eating peanut butter in public should become thought of as a social norm instead of an accommodation. If this is lethal why take the risk. That’s insane. I feel like it should come with an FDA warning label.

There is a warning label on peanut butter. It reads *Contains Peanut Ingredients. May contain Soy. Produced in a facility that processes tree nuts.*

[Anonymous]

Mom of severely allergic kid here. As a general rule, I don't let my kids run around with food because you don't know what other people are allergic to. If kids are hungry they can sit down, have their snack, I'll wipe down their hands and faces and they can continue playing. I don't worry about other people eating peanut butter at the park, but the people we do playdates with make sure to not bring it along if the kids are going to be playing together.

[Anonymous]

Now I want a peanut butter jelly sandwich. Thanks, op.