Furious. Why in the world would a parent send a peanut snack to a peanut-free classroom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just think this is a slippery slope...people with allergies need to be vigilant about their own children, and cannot expect society to do that for them. I have a child with severe asthma - merely sitting near someone who has a cat at home can trigger an asthma attack. I mean 911 call, shot of epinephrine type of response. Should we tell people they can't have cats at home because there are a lot of children with this level of allergy? Ultimately, I have to send the medications, and teach my child to be aware of the "cat people" and understand that there will be 911 calls in our future.

Actually, when you send your minor child off to compulsory education, as state law requires, then as a parent you can in fact "expect society" -- in the form of a teacher or lunch aide or any adult put in charge -- to "do that for" you. Because as you well know, the school is not going to allow a parent to attend school with the child every day.

So I expect my son's school not to actively serve him peanut food. Because it matters, he is a young child. The calculations may be different in a HS, possibly also a MS.

Not true, I expect my child to do that for himself. He is in K, knows about his allergies and is vigilant about it, actually more than I am sometimes. His friend brought PB&J for lunch, DS asked the lunch aid to be reseated at different spot = end of story.
On the other hand it is interesting that OP never chimed back in with more details... Hate to say it but troll?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WONT SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!?!?!??!

This literally made me lol. My 9 year old says this when he's trying to convince us to give him what he wants and dh thinks it's obnoxious while it always makes me laugh.

[Anonymous]

OP is nuts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP is nuts

How did this take 6 pages? Hahaha!

[Anonymous]

I think it's great that some parents of allergic kids in Kindergarten also possess the exemplary reading skills to read the tiny print list of ingredients of every energy or Clif bar that may be given to them by a Mom having an off day.

Hats off to you, 20:42! That is fantastic that at the tender age of 5, he will never falter in his vigilance and so you don't require adult supervision. He's probably ready to babysit himself at this point, too, I would imagine!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was that mom once. It was a rough morning and I grabbed the wrong box of granola bars before I'd had my morning coffee. I got a stern e-mail from the school and my kid had to starve (he's a picky eater and a granola bar is a significant portion of his lunch). But the allergy kid didn't die, so that's good. I felt legitimately bad about the whole thing. I wasn't trying to kill anyone.

That was me once, too. except my kids' school isn't nut free. They went to a camp that apparently was in a nut free school, and basically expected everyone to know. (Most of the campers attended the school). Guess who didn't know? They completely flipped out on my then not quite 5 yr old DS when he was unwrapping his granola bar, and took away his whole lunch. Not quite the correct reaction either. While I certainly understand the need for nut free schools, I also think there is a place for some common sense.

He didn't return, and they did (very unwillingly) refund our money.

When my DS was in preschool, it was a no-nuts schools (which I was fine with). Since he liked to eat PB&J, I put sunflower butter & jelly in his lunch every day for 5 months. EVERY DAY I labeled it as "sunflower butter-no nuts". Then ONE day I forgot the label and the teachers took his lunch away. Could have called me to check. Could have given me the benefit of the doubt that he was having the same thing he had every freaking day. But no, better for him to go hungry (they did not give him an alternative lunch). He was so upset by it that he wouldn't eat peanut or sunflower butter for over a year.

The next year, same school, there was a child with extreme nut/dairy/egg allergies. To limit chances of contamination, the school required the kids to wash hands upon arrive, before and after snack, before and after lunch, plus after the playground. After a few weeks of this my DS's hands were cracked and bleeding. Not much sympathy from the school and they couldn't be bothered to exert themselves to make sure his hands were slathered with lotion after each hand washing. Thankfully, they finally relaxed on the handwashing (it was a lot logistically with a classroom full of 4 year olds) and I advised DS to wash as little as possible. I understand the need for nut-free tables/classrooms etc. but as PP said, common sense and consideration is needed on all sides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's great that some parents of allergic kids in Kindergarten also possess the exemplary reading skills to read the tiny print list of ingredients of every energy or Clif bar that may be given to them by a Mom having an off day.

Hats off to you, 20:42! That is fantastic that at the tender age of 5, he will never falter in his vigilance and so you don't require adult supervision. He's probably ready to babysit himself at this point, too, I would imagine!

Well, I actually don't keep anything peanut/nut in the house so its easy for me not to mess up. And no, he would not eat other peoples snacks/food unless he knows it doesn't have nuts. I can control what I do, but I cant control other people and that the lesson I try to teach DS.

[Anonymous]

What's wrong with children these days? Peanut allergies, autism. it's terrible!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Peanuts are worthless government subsided garbage food that shouldn't be fed to humans.

Why? I love them. Peanut stew, peanut butter and banana sandwiches.... mmmmm

Oh, how I love West African peanut stews. Love, love, love, love, love.

And Thai food... peanut sauce... never giving that up, for anyone.

Until you have a kid with a nut allergy. Because then you give up going out to those restaurants, you give up those recipes, you give up having that stuff around the house. Unless of course you are so callous that you don't let your kid dying get in the way of your meal.

[Anonymous]

Peanut free is an ada issue

[Anonymous]

There is a kid with a severe peanut allergy in DC's class (has an epi pen). The school is not nut/peanut free so we regularly pack PB&Js for DC's lunch and there has never been a problem. Also, there has never been a note sent home about allergy issues when sending in snacks for the whole class. But since I know this kid personally and am friends with his parents, I always make sure to send in a safe snack for the class.

If this kid had trail mix with peanuts in his personal lunchbox, then I don't see the big deal. But if it is a snack for the whole class, I agree, it would be more of a problem. How old are these kids? All elementary aged kids that I know who have food allergies are well aware of how to protect themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher, and I think it's important to note that no-nut and no-peanut rules get broken with quite a bit of regularity. They can be one important piece of keeping kids safe, but they fail pretty often, so you need to have other layers of strategies as well, including being vigilant about noticing what's in other kid's lunches, and teaching the allergic kid to only eat what came from his/her home.

Absolutely. As a teacher who is allergic to nuts myself, I'm hyper-vigilant about what kids are served. When the list of students with allergies comes out, I memorize it, even the students with whom I don't work. I keep an updated copy of the list in my desk drawer as well.

But I am definitely the exception, not the norm. I've already stopped questionable snacks from being handed out twice this year already. PTA provides snacks for after testing, and they don't do the best job of making sure the snack is safe even though I've had conversations with them about it. The school nurse even tried to convince me it was fine (it had coconut oil) in one instance, but I called the parent who confirmed her child couldn't eat it. The child (2nd grade) didn't question whether or not it was safe--he was about to eat it. School staff mean well, but do not ever assume that it is completely safe environment. Definitely teach your kids to advocate for themselves at a very young age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh get over yourself. I'm so sick of you allergy mommies demanding that the world bend over backwards for your precious.

I agree. We should eliminate all tree nut and peanut restrictions. People can bring whatever they want for lunch, eat where the want. But if your food causes someone else to have a allergic reaction that causes them to go to the hospital, they get to charge you with assault. If someone dies because you brought an allergen in, then they get to charge you with manslaughter. In the case of kids, we'll hold the parents of the child who brought the allergen to school responsible and charge them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh get over yourself. I'm so sick of you allergy mommies demanding that the world bend over backwards for your precious.

I agree. We should eliminate all tree nut and peanut restrictions. People can bring whatever they want for lunch, eat where the want. But if your food causes someone else to have a allergic reaction that causes them to go to the hospital, they get to charge you with assault. If someone dies because you brought an allergen in, then they get to charge you with manslaughter. In the case of kids, we'll hold the parents of the child who brought the allergen to school responsible and charge them.

This would be hilarious if it wasn't so ridiculously sad. You legitimately feel that eating a granola bar should be punishable by arrest? This can't be real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh get over yourself. I'm so sick of you allergy mommies demanding that the world bend over backwards for your precious.

I agree. We should eliminate all tree nut and peanut restrictions. People can bring whatever they want for lunch, eat where the want. But if your food causes someone else to have a allergic reaction that causes them to go to the hospital, they get to charge you with assault. If someone dies because you brought an allergen in, then they get to charge you with manslaughter. In the case of kids, we'll hold the parents of the child who brought the allergen to school responsible and charge them.

This would be hilarious if it wasn't so ridiculously sad. You legitimately feel that eating a granola bar should be punishable by arrest? This can't be real.

No, I wasn't serious. I was going for hyperbole. But if an HIV-positive person can be charged with sexual assault for not revealing their HIV status or a person who distributes anthrax through the mail can be charged with attempted murder then it's not that far of a stretch that if you injure or harm someone by bringing in a potentially lethal substance (to them) that they can be charged. The point is that these allergens are known to cause very serious medical conditions or potentially be lethal to some people. And young students do not necessarily have the experience and knowledge to adequately protect themselves, so it is incumbent upon the school and the adult staff to provide as safe an environment for them as possible.

Once you get up to the high school and college level, the young adults should be experienced enough to know themselves and what they should to do to protect themselves from exposure to an allergen and how to respond if they have an allergic reaction. However, a child between preschool and tween age may not have the experience or attention to protect themselves which is why such policies are put into place.

I really think that nut-free policies in lower schools are important and neither of my kids has any allergies, but I've known a number of people with severe allergies to either tree nuts or peanuts.