I’ve been doing some thinking…

Often, when non-allergic parents complain about dietary restrictions in the classroom they blame the parents. Sometimes, the child but, it’s often the parents. It’s my fault your kid can’t take peanut butter and jelly to school. I’ve heard it, I’ve heard people complain about how hard it is to send a lunch to school that doesn’t involve nuts. Believe, I know it’s difficult. It’s not impossible.

Charlie’s class is nut free. But not because I asked or demanded that it be. In fact, I didn’t even mention it. The school had a policy in effect for food allergies that stated that I would send in his food for snack time. When he started in the two year old program, I showed up to orientation with a shopping bag full of snacks, with his name on it, for the school to serve him. I was ready to comply with the set of standards. Only I was met with his teacher informing me instead of that, they would like me to provide a list of food that is safe for him to eat and they would buy class snacks based on that. They would make the class nut free and for the other kids “special days” (when the parent of the child brings in the snack) I would be responsible for coordinating with the parent and either alerting the school if they could eat it or send him something comparable. Easy.

Again, I didn’t ask for it. As it turns out, the school is staffed with teachers. They aren’t doctors, nurses or really anyone that feels comfortable giving a child an injection. They are teachers. They teach. They manage a classroom of 2, 3 and 4 year olds. They don’t want to have to inject my son with epinephrine anymore than I do. They make his class safe because it benefits him, me AND them. It’s a win-win-win.

Now, I ask you, don’t imagine that it is your child that could die or that would need to be injected as they struggle to breath, but imagine it’s you. It’s you that is holding a scared, flushed, vomiting, suffocating child that is covered in hives and YOU have to save their life by jabbing a needle into their thigh, how would you feel about allowing the peanut butter and jelly in your classroom? Something tells me you wouldn’t sign up for that situation. Schools don’t either; or teachers, or scout leaders, or camp directors, or whomever. It’s a scary as shit situation. I know, I’ve done it. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was lucky enough to have a friend react as quickly as I did and hold my burning hot, vomiting child while I jabbed his thigh. I couldn’t imagine doing it by myself in a classroom of 16 other kids. I doubt YOU would want to do it.

So instead of cursing at an innocent child or a parent that wants to protect them, try to sympathize with what the caretaker of that child would have to go through in the extreme accident if the allergen is consumed. Then, maybe we could all be a little more understanding because it affects us, not them.