Does every kids event have to involve food?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My youngest has severe eczema. We have met with several specialists and over the course of a year have identified what flares him up- wheat, dairy, eggs, corn, tomatoes, chocolate, nuts, preservatives, annatto, sorbitol, and some others. Basically anything that comes in a box or can triggers hives and then skin that looks like third degree burns on his neck, torso, legs, arms, back and cheeks. It’s absolutely miserable and takes weeks to clear up a flare. I travel with our own snacks but it’s so damn hard when every single kids event involves food that he cannot eat. He’s 5 and he understands that he can’t have that sort of stuff and we are praying that he outgrows his allergies, and I honestly don’t want to take away the joy of food for anyone else but I just want one kids event that doesn’t involve food. Swim team celebrates every meet with boxes of donuts. The meets themselves involve snacks that are candy bars and chips. Piano gives away lollipops and other candy as prizes. Baseball does ice cream after every game. Soccer does cookies. School does pizza parties and ice cream. Every play date involves chips, gummies, etc. I know it’s just bad eczema and nowhere near the stresses of anaphylactic allergies that other parents have to deal with, but it’s just tiring. Give me one school event or sports practice where everyone eats fruits and veggies to celebrate. Anyway, I know this is a first world problem and I wouldn’t dare bring this up anywhere but an anonymous forum so this is just a rant.

OP, I brought this up in “Why American Don’t Give a F About What They Eat” thread.

I can’t believe the amount of junk food our kids get from other people on daily basis.

This is purely an American thing. Nowhere else in the world kids are rewarded with do much junk. Americans believe their kids will die of starvation if they don’t eat for 3 hours. No other nation hauls around bags of goldfish crackers, chips, bars, etc everywhere they go.

Also, we have record obesity and diabetes rates.

[Anonymous]

There must be something else going on with your child. This isn't eczema. Please see a dermatologist. Eczema doesn't cause third degree burn like "flares" all over a child's body from eating a cookie.

[Anonymous]

OP maybe you need a second opinion. My DD has bad food-triggered eczema and the allergist sAys the best thing we can do is a very intense cream + bathing regimen and encouraging all of the foods even the trigger foods. She says this is the best way DD can grow out of the allergies.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP, I’m sorry! You are right, it sucks. I always feel like my kids aren’t missing out on candy and cupcakes and chips and whatever until everyone else is eating them
in front of them. Literally just not food we have in rotation on any regular basis but go to the pool and everyone else seems to have it as their daily
morning snack.

We did grain-free for 2 year with a child with severe eczema, and now have gradually reintroduced. We are probably still grain-light but I don’t have to read the labels on everything any more. Good luck! I hope your situation is temporary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with what you’re saying. No, every event should not involve food!! Kids get enough calories and junk as it is. They do not need donuts at a swim meet.

[phone]

NP +1

Snacking is out of control in this country.

No wonder half the kids at school are on ritalin.

+2

The Cult of the Snack is absurd in the US.

+3 its absolutely ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

I find it especially bizarre that junk food is served after kids play sports.

[Anonymous]

+1

[Anonymous]

I'ts not a "first world problem", this is such a weird comment. Are you under the impression that people in less developed countries don't have allergies?

[Anonymous]

The baseball coach every season 'assigns' each parent to provide a snack after every event. It's a snack schedule. T-ball, transitional ball, etc. are all 1 hour events. Kids don't need a snack every week. It's a hassle for the parents. The kids don't need chips and they already have their water bottle. Gimme a break!

[Anonymous]

There's a family at our school where the kid brings a full size bag of junk food (think chips or cookies) onto the playground and roams around eating it while she climbs and plays. And of course other kids swarm her trying to ask for food. It's ridiculous behavior.

[Anonymous]

If you confide in the parents of his closest friends, I imagine some would be sympathetic and offer play dates either without food or with food that he can eat. Even as you’re pulling out your own snacks, some may ask if he has allergies- be honest with those who bother to ask. I know I would ask and even encourage the snack rotation to include some safe foods. You said he can eat fruit. That’s easy enough to accommodate.

I’ve had a number of family members with serious food restrictions as kids. Obviously not all or even most events adapted to the kid, but some families wanted to go out of their way to plan a snack every child could enjoy. I’m sure you’ll find some folks like that if you open up.

[Anonymous]

Even without the connection to allergies and eczema, which I sympathize with, it’s still totally ridiculous to center kids activities around food and treats. It teaches them to eat as punctuation to an activity and not to learn to recognize if they are hungry on their own.

OP I’d love to know which doc helped you identify your kids food triggers. Most docs still seem to focus on reactive treatments although I think that’s finally starting to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with what you’re saying. No, every event should not involve food!! Kids get enough calories and junk as it is. They do not need donuts at a swim meet.

[phone]

NP +1

Snacking is out of control in this country.

No wonder half the kids at school are on ritalin.

+2

The Cult of the Snack is absurd in the US.

Totally. Look at the ingredients for most of these snacks and then think again why there is an epidemic of ADHD and obesity.

I was the mean mom when my kids were little. Now that they are teens, we have dodged these issues and they can choose what they put into their bodies. Interestingly enough, after the occasional junk food binge, they complain about feeling like crap and voluntarily revert to clean eating. I’m glad it worked out that way, but it required more than a decade of swimming against the tide.

+3 its absolutely ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'ts not a "first world problem", this is such a weird comment. Are you under the impression that people in less developed countries don't have allergies?

Allergies are literally more common in more developed countries

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP maybe you need a second opinion. My DD has bad food-triggered eczema and the allergist sAys the best thing we can do is a very intense cream + bathing regimen and encouraging all of the foods even the trigger foods. She says this is the best way DD can grow out of the allergies.

+100
I can't believe only one person has brought this up. Both of my kids have severe eczema, as do many family members. We have seen lots of doctors and our allergist has always said to eat normally and treat the eczema. Not eating the trigger foods makes it worse, their bodies need to get used to them and that's how they eventually outgrow them. OP, you need a second opinion and frankly the fact that you are depriving your kid of all of these foods when that's not the standard medical advice gives me major pause here.