Junior High and Allergies

[runnergrl]

Let me go back to my middle school/high school days (which was not too long ago) and put in the reasoning of today:
Let's see, there were people with peanut allergies...so today parents would say no peanuts
nut allergies means no more nuts anymore
dairy allergies and lactose intolerance means no more of the classic milk cartons at the end of the lines, and pizza? nope that has cheese on it
Ciliac disease means that the school is now gluten-free
we had a child with PKU in our school, so I guess everything served needs to be free of phenylalanine now too.
Parents of children with autism would argue for a casein-free and dye-free menu.
Other obscure dietary needs would also need to be accommodated in order to ensure fairness and the happiness of all: so no more strawberries, onions, pinapple, etc.

Any suggestions as to what the school CAN serve?

Maybe we should just get rid of school lunches? then no one can complain that their needs are not being accommodated

 

[Hannathy]

I would gladly give up my "right" to eat a peanut product at school to protect the kid that may die if I eat it. Seems like the reasonable and right thing to do to me.

A child is not going to die if you eat a cookie and they have taken personal responsibility to protect themselves.

See this is the sort of sensationalism that has lead to the backlash against the peanut allergy folks.

 

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

Last year when my ds was in preschool they dealt with these issues. One of the children ate a few spoons of peanut butter and had a reaction during which they had to call the ambulance. Her parents said that they didn't know she had the allergy, but had noticed that after eating peanut products her face got red.

Anyway, after that they banned all peanut products in the preschool. I understood but my ds only ate pb&j sandwiches. So basically I sent him another sandwich every day that he didn't eat. Like I said, I do understand but my ds is so happy to get his pb&j back in kindergarten!!!

 

[Mandychelle79]

How often do you take your dairy allergic kids to an ice cream parlor? Do you sit with them at a table? You make choices as a person with a medical issue (or parent of one) and sometimes that means not going to certain places. A lot of kids/people with nut allergies can't attend baseball games due to the nuts.

We do not have ice cream parlors here, but we would take my dd to ice cream stands when she was still dairy allergic. We would get her an Icee, which was a safe treat for her.

 

[Mandychelle79]

I would gladly give up my "right" to eat a peanut product at school to protect the kid that may die if I eat it. Seems like the reasonable and right thing to do to me.

Ok. Thats fine, but are you going to give up the right to have all foods that contain the top allergens? Which is where banning one food is going to end up leading to. I can see it now. Well you banned peanuts because Johnny is allergic, now I need you to ban everything with milk in it because Susie cant have it. Well you are banning everything with peanuts and milk and now Alex cant have wheat.

Why is it that people only associate life threatening reactions to nut and peanut allergies? I personally think that the parents of other food allergic kiddos realize how asinine it is to ask for their childs allergen to be removed from the school.

 

[mjkacmom]

Let me go back to my middle school/high school days (which was not too long ago) and put in the reasoning of today:
Let's see, there were people with peanut allergies...so today parents would say no peanuts
nut allergies means no more nuts anymore
dairy allergies and lactose intolerance means no more of the classic milk cartons at the end of the lines, and pizza? nope that has cheese on it
Ciliac disease means that the school is now gluten-free
we had a child with PKU in our school, so I guess everything served needs to be free of phenylalanine now too.
Parents of children with autism would argue for a casein-free and dye-free menu.
Other obscure dietary needs would also need to be accommodated in order to ensure fairness and the happiness of all: so no more strawberries, onions, pinapple, etc.
Any suggestions as to what the school CAN serve?

Maybe we should just get rid of school lunches? then no one can complain that their needs are not being accommodated

Why is it that SO many schools have a ban on homemade treats and have peanut free tables, yet people bring up each and every allergy. My kid has celiac and is lactose intolerant, but gluten and lactose are not life threatening. Is is so hard for a school to not serve pp&j sandwiches, and serve ham or turkey instead? I am honestly shocked that some schools DO still serve peanut products - I guess I live in a liberal state. With 400,000 students in the US with this allergy, can't schools compromise, and let people bring it, but don't serve it, to cut down the chances something might go wrong.

 

[Mandychelle79]

Why is it that SO many schools have a ban on homemade treats and have peanut free tables, yet people bring up each and every allergy. My kid has celiac and is lactose intolerant, but gluten and lactose are not life threatening. Is is so hard for a school to not serve pp&j sandwiches, and serve ham or turkey instead? I am honestly shocked that some schools DO still serve peanut products - I guess I live in a liberal state. With 400,000 students in the US with this allergy, can't schools compromise, and let people bring it, but don't serve it, to cut down the chances something might go wrong.

Because there is a difference between an intolerance ( and celiac is an intolerance not a true allergy) and an allergy. My dd was not lactose intolerant. She was allergic to milk. When given milk she would make the pea soup scene in the Excersist look tame. Her lips would swell and she would break out in hives. We carried an EPI-PEN with us, just like the peanut allergy kids.

Sure she could eat a ham sandwich or a turkey sandwich, as long as they could prove the meat didnt have milk in it. A lot of lunch meats do.

 

[Hannathy]

Why is it that SO many schools have a ban on homemade treats and have peanut free tables, yet people bring up each and every allergy. My kid has celiac and is lactose intolerant, but gluten and lactose are not life threatening. Is is so hard for a school to not serve pp&j sandwiches, and serve ham or turkey instead? I am honestly shocked that some schools DO still serve peanut products - I guess I live in a liberal state. With 400,000 students in the US with this allergy, can't schools compromise, and let people bring it, but don't serve it, to cut down the chances something might go wrong.

No but many other allergies are life threatening. Shellfish allergies can be just as life threatening as peanuts. The question is where do we stop. Peanut allergy kids aren't any more special than shellfish allergies. And yes it can be hard for a school to serve ham and cheese, more expensive, more refrigeration needed, different storage requirements.
Compromise is a peanut free table, but that actually can be a problem if space is at a premium and a whole table is taken up by 1 kid but that at least is a compromise.
Should no gym classes go outside because 1 child is allergic to bees?

 

[badblackpug]

It's not compareable to this situation where the cafeteria serves peanut butter cookies to all lunch buyers- which in JR high is a high percentage. A closer comparison would be the 90% of the people in the movie theater eat peanut M&M's and don't wash up- or 90% of riders at WDW eat pb crackers in line. I know people who have had to get out of line at WDW because of people eating in line.

...but my point is you cannot police the world. This is a young man. A 12 or 13 year old. He will be going out into the world without parents and gaining independence as young adults do. As a parent you are not going to be able to control every situation in his life. This is a condition he has and one for which he must take responsibility. As an adult the world is not going to cater to his needs, he is going to need to learn to adapt. If this were a pre-schooler or toddler, I would understand. They don't know better than to eat certain things. I have a 2 year old, if she wants it, she takes it, but this is a young man. He will go to the movies with friends, the ball game, the pizza parlor, friends house. Then there will be high school, then college, then the work force, not everyone is going to be willing to cater to one, or even the minority. As a parent you cannot control all these situations, it is better to teach him now to be the one in control rather than leaving the responsibility to strangers.

It is simple enough to pack his lunch and request a peanut free table.

 

[princessmom29]

Why is it that SO many schools have a ban on homemade treats and have peanut free tables, yet people bring up each and every allergy. My kid has celiac and is lactose intolerant, but gluten and lactose are not life threatening. Is is so hard for a school to not serve pp&j sandwiches, and serve ham or turkey instead? I am honestly shocked that some schools DO still serve peanut products - I guess I live in a liberal state. With 400,000 students in the US with this allergy, can't schools compromise, and let people bring it, but don't serve it, to cut down the chances something might go wrong.

Latose IS life threatening. We have a child in school this year that carries an epi pen for it. I had a child last year start wheezing on me after 2 bites of a piece of cake.

 

[Mandychelle79]

Latose IS life threatening. We have a child in school this year that carries an epi pen for it. I had a child last year start wheezing on me after 2 bites of a piece of cake.

Most likely an allergy then and not a lactose intolerance.

Thats one of the problems. People say they are allergic to milk when they are really lactose intolerant and vice versa.

Lactose intolerance deals with the sugar in milk, Milk Allergy deals with the protein found in milk.

I have to deal with this all the time at work ( in a hospital). People come in and say they are allergic to milk, so I have started to ask them if they eat cheese/ice cream/ butter or anything that contains milk. If they say yes I know its a lactose intolerance not a milk allergy.

 

[princessmom29]

Most likely an allergy then and not a lactose intolerance.

Thats one of the problems. People say they are allergic to milk when they are really lactose intolerant and vice versa.

Lactose intolerance deals with the sugar in milk, Milk Allergy deals with the protein found in milk.

I have to deal with this all the time at work ( in a hospital). People come in and say they are allergic to milk, so I have started to ask them if they eat cheese/ice cream/ butter or anything that contains milk. If they say yes I know its a lactose intolerance not a milk allergy.

You are exactly right. There are many other protiens that can trigger an allergy, and not just from foods either. I am allergic to wool form sheep, and it is obviously some protien the sheep produces. I have only ever had an airbore reaction once, and that was in the yarn area of a craft store. I think there were too many airborne fibers. I started wheezing and had to leave. Typically my allergy is just a contact one, and results in itchy hives. Needless to say I have never owned a wool coat.

 

[crisi]

I have a gluten intolerance. A friend of mine has celiac. Another friend has a wheat allergy.

I get gassy, no big if I stay near a bathroom.

My friend has a long term autoimmune reaction to gluten - long term exposure, she suffers from malnutrition and has a highly increased chance of some cancers. Short term, there are less severe results.

My other friend blows up like a balloon when exposed to flour (eats, breathes - I doubt touches), carries an epi pen, and can't be around airborne flour. Wheat allergies to her extent are rare, but they do exist.

A former coworkers son had a similar milk allergy.

 

[grafxgirl]

Why is it that SO many schools have a ban on homemade treats and have peanut free tables, yet people bring up each and every allergy. My kid has celiac and is lactose intolerant, but gluten and lactose are not life threatening. Is is so hard for a school to not serve pp&j sandwiches, and serve ham or turkey instead? I am honestly shocked that some schools DO still serve peanut products - I guess I live in a liberal state. With 400,000 students in the US with this allergy, can't schools compromise, and let people bring it, but don't serve it, to cut down the chances something might go wrong.

Our county put a ban on homemade treats in the schools for health reasons other than allergies. On pre-packaged food in the grocery stores, they list the ingredients, calorie contents, fat content, sugar contents, sodium content, etc. In our parent-teacher handbooks is a list of the maximum amount of each of these items that is allowed. We are not allowed to send snacks in if they exceed these amounts. The reason for not allowing homemade snacks is because one can't determine these things. Our schools don't have soda machines anymore or snack machines with unhealthy options in them either.

 

[disneyandme]

And people pay a lot more money to eat at Disney than most people are willing to pay to make sure every school child gets enough protein, carbs, etc at school. School lunches are very cheep, the people preparing them are certainly not Disney chef quality and probably earn minimum wage to work at a job most of wouldn't do.

Are you really saying it can't be done because it's too expensive- I ignored the last person who said that, but no this time. Is money really going to take presidence over the safety of a child?

 

[disneyandme]

.....Why is it that people only associate life threatening reactions to nut and peanut allergies? I personally think that the parents of other food allergic kiddos realize how asinine it is to ask for their childs allergen to be removed from the school.

I am a parent of a child with multiple food allergies-- but Not nuts. I think that parents know the sensitivity of their child's allergy more than anyone else and if the child is sensitive enough to need no nuts served in the cafeteria (keep in mind the other children can still bring them from home) than I think other food allergic people should be more understanding.

 

[Hannathy]

Are you really saying it can't be done because it's too expensive- I ignored the last person who said that, but no this time. Is money really going to take presidence over the safety of a child?

Yep sure am. There is always a weighing going on. There isn't unlimited resources. Even Hospitals put a monetary consideration into saving a life. And that is a bit melodramatic isn't it? All they have to do to "save their life" is not buy the food in the cafeteria weighed against a lot of kids getting affordable protein.

 

[disneyandme]

A child is not going to die if you eat a cookie and they have taken personal responsibility to protect themselves.

See this is the sort of sensationalism that has lead to the backlash against the peanut allergy folks.

You really like to stir the pot, don't you. Yes, a person can react to another person eating a cookie. The crumbs, smears, leftovers, etc are left on the table and cross contaminate the child's lunch. As stated earlier, nuts are a unique allergy in that nut protein is far more difficult to clean up than any other allergen. Wiping down the table is sufficient for almost any other food- EXCEPT nuts. Does soemone clean the table with specific kinds of cleaners that can take residual nuts products off the table between seatings. I think not. A child in school would certainly not be allowed to transport cleaner to use on the table. This is why nuts are different than any of the other allergens, not because one is more deadly than another. Learn the facts before you use words like "sensationalism".

 

[shelby101301]

How often do you take your dairy allergic kids to an ice cream parlor? Do you sit with them at a table? You make choices as a person with a medical issue (or parent of one) and sometimes that means not going to certain places. A lot of kids/people with nut allergies can't attend baseball games due to the nuts.

Exactly! We avoid places we know are at risk. I carry wipes and such to wipe and clean surfaces before my child touches them... No my child can't go to public play centers like his older siblings... He has limitations for the outside world. But it is the law to send your child to school, and I am certainly not qualified to home school. Surely it's not to much to ask that the school actually be a safe place to attend?

Yes an older child can control what s/he puts in their mouth but what about what has been on the table? And mistakes do happen. I don't know how often I've asked someone "Is this egg free?" and then say yes, and then upon further inspection, it's really not. I have to see it in writing on the package labeling for myself and speak to a mgr before i trust anything we eat in public. 98% of the time, we just bring our own. Just every once in a while, my child wants to be like everyone else, though. Is that so much to ask? To occasionally want to eat something everyone else is? Especially in middle/High school!

For those of you who say the school shouldn't change for one child, it's certainly more than one child! I believe there has been at least two children with peanut allergies in all of my kids' classes. Five elementary schools funnelling into the middle school, six kids per school, 30 per grade, equals 60 in the middle school.

For all those arguing, argue away. But face it, the world has changed, You may not like it, but for school at least, I believe it's only a matter of time, or a death, or a lawsuit before the no peanuts is the norm for all districts.

I guess I am just kind of disgusted by the lack of compassion for those dealing with these types of issues. As usual, heaven forbid we try and look outside ourselves and our own creature comforts in order to help someone with a legitimate lie threatening health concern.

 

[Hannathy]

To die from eating a cookie they would have to ingest the crumbs, not something a Jr High kid is going to do that knows they have an allergy. Not sure about the special cleaner will have to read more. I do doubt that a table wiped off that only had a crumb or two is going to transmit enough peanut protein to kill someone, How do they open any doors or use a computer in the library, touch a music stand, those are not all cleaned with special cleaner. Like I said in high school they eat at the same table and a boy with a peanut allergy sat there all year while they all including his brother ate peanut butter. In fact his brother ate a lot of peanut butter because he is a vegetarian.