Peanut-free classroom this year......

[NikitaZee]

I think it's extreme, and I wouldn't want to go through all that copying of ingredient labels, etc. I also send in baggies of pretzels, goldfish, etc. so I'd have to re-do my snack packing routine as well.
That said, one of my son's classmates had a reaction at school 2 years ago due to something my son had on his hands. My husband is friendly with the little girl's father, so when she was taken from school in an ambulance, the girl's father called around to try and piece together what happened. Turns out, my son was eating Hostess chocolate chip mini-muffins for breakfast at the time, and had nut-substance on his hands due to cross-contamination at the manufacturer (the banana nut muffins are made on the same machinery, and the label indicated this). The girl and my son had been holding hands on the playground, and that's what did it.
From then on, we had my son wash his hands after eating mini-muffins for breakfast. But, it just goes to show - you can't control everything in order to avoid these allergic reactions - this exposure was as a result of something my son ate at home, hours earlier.
It must be a terrible feeling to have a child with such severe allergies. I don't know what I'd do in that situation.

 

[TriMom]

I am in the same situation. And it is so frustrating for me.

I am all for keeping little Suzie safe. I have no problem with not sending in anything with peanuts or manufactured near peanuts. My problem is that I can't cut off some cubes of cheese and send them in. I HAVE to send in a wrapped cheese stick. I can't buy the giant box of goldfish - I have to buy the individually packaged goldfish. I can't even send in an apple - I have to buy the packaged, pre-sliced apples. My budget was not designed around the VERY expensive individual packaged snacks.

 

[mombrontrent]

I live in Ontario, Canada and the schools here have been strict since my first child started school 8 years ago. No nut products or anything that could have been around nuts or manufactured in a factory that has peanuts or any kind of nut. Homemade food has to come with indgredient list. One year my son had a girl in his class that was allergic to egg, so egg or anything with egg was allowed into the classroom. A couple years ago he had a TEACHER that was allergic to garlic so no products with garlic in the classroom at all. The class wasn't even allowed to participate in hotdog or pizza day becuase both those products have garlic. Now this I thought was rediclous. How does the teacher get around the real world After reading so many labels you'd be surprised just how much food has garlic, almost kind of deli meat was off limits for sandwiches! Also so perfume or scented deoderate is allowed in the school because some kids have scent allergies

 

[Uncle Remus]

I think it's extreme, and I wouldn't want to go through all that copying of ingredient labels, etc. I also send in baggies of pretzels, goldfish, etc. so I'd have to re-do my snack packing routine as well.
That said, one of my son's classmates had a reaction at school 2 years ago due to something my son had on his hands. My husband is friendly with the little girl's father, so when she was taken from school in an ambulance, the girl's father called around to try and piece together what happened. Turns out, my son was eating Hostess chocolate chip mini-muffins for breakfast at the time, and had nut-substance on his hands due to cross-contamination at the manufacturer (the banana nut muffins are made on the same machinery, and the label indicated this). The girl and my son had been holding hands on the playground, and that's what did it.
From then on, we had my son wash his hands after eating mini-muffins for breakfast. But, it just goes to show - you can't control everything in order to avoid these allergic reactions - this exposure was as a result of something my son ate at home, hours earlier.
It must be a terrible feeling to have a child with such severe allergies. I don't know what I'd do in that situation.

No kiddin'. I wonder why the country doesn't just ban peanuts altogether.

 

[Jaime4004]

I am in the same situation. And it is so frustrating for me.

I am all for keeping little Suzie safe. I have no problem with not sending in anything with peanuts or manufactured near peanuts. My problem is that I can't cut off some cubes of cheese and send them in. I HAVE to send in a wrapped cheese stick. I can't buy the giant box of goldfish - I have to buy the individually packaged goldfish. I can't even send in an apple - I have to buy the packaged, pre-sliced apples. My budget was not designed around the VERY expensive individual packaged snacks.

So it's not just us! I had never seen such extreme rules on foods brought in.

Kydisneyfans: you definitely win the extreme award. No lunches from home DD would starve, she is very picky and rarely eats school lunches.

Nikitazee: It is really a rough deal to deal with allergies that are that bad. Honestly, if it were my kid, i am paranoid enough to homeschool. I'm talking about an anaphylatic reaction from just touching someone who touched something, etc. Not for the milder reactions. I would homeschool at least until the affected child were old enough to be washing hands often. YOu can't control what other people eat at home...

 

[mamacatnv]

I'd be requesting another classroom.

I understand the need to keep kids safe to a point but I don't buy a lot of packaged junk. I make cookies, brownies, muffins etc. and it would really annoy me to not be allowed to send my child in with a snack that I made if I chose to do so. I would never send a peanut product but this whole you must send the ingredient lists IMO is getting way out of hand.

 

[LisaR]

There are cases that require more than 'teach the kid what they can and can't eat and to be responsible about it.'

You are absolutely right about that but the reality is that not all cases are like this. In fact, the vast majority of peanut allergies are not as severe as the example you stated in your post.

As the mom of a peanut and tree nut allergic kid (plus a 100 other things) I have had long discussions about this topic with several allergist over the years. There are ways to determine if your child has the type of severe allergy you mentioned and it goes beyond what a skin test says which are not the most accurate. Unfortunately, most parents that I have met are not willing to go this route. They see the test results and immediately interpret it as "every peanut on the face of this earth needs to be sequestered for little Suzy to survive." In addition, many allergists take the exact same stance because if they say the allergy tests are not accurate enough, why would anyone bother getting allergy tested? My son has been involved with two different teaching hospital studies regarding peanut allergies. I've been amazed by the data.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I'm so glad my DS wasn't in any peanut-free classes (although, I am surprised). He ate peanut butter sandwiches for lunch all the way through high school. And that's all he would eat, peanut butter sandwiches and Capri Sun drinks.

Believe me, I would periodically fix other stuff for lunch for him, and it would come back home the way I packed it.

 

[lizabu]

Our school is peanut free and has been for years. Its not a big deal. Kids can have fruit, apple sauce, raisins, cut vegetable, cheese and more. When I comes to bars I learned that if they are not actually labelled peanut free they might get taken away. I don't want any little kid to get sick or die because I sent the wrong snack so I'm pretty careful what I buy. They allow us to send in treats on holidays and they have to be nut free but from my experience most kids with allergies bring their own treats just to be on the safe side.

 

[lizabu]

I am in the same situation. And it is so frustrating for me.

I am all for keeping little Suzie safe. I have no problem with not sending in anything with peanuts or manufactured near peanuts. My problem is that I can't cut off some cubes of cheese and send them in. I HAVE to send in a wrapped cheese stick. I can't buy the giant box of goldfish - I have to buy the individually packaged goldfish. I can't even send in an apple - I have to buy the packaged, pre-sliced apples. My budget was not designed around the VERY expensive individual packaged snacks.

See...thats ridiculous. I could imagine someone sending and apple with a sticker which reads Ingredients: Apple. I would probably complain about that because it's ridiculous.

 

[disfan07]

No kiddin'. I wonder why the country doesn't just ban peanuts altogether.

haha....as someone with a severe peanut allergy, I joke about that all the time. I wish peanuts were illegal sometimes......When all I want is an already made treat (cupcake, cookies, etc) and I find a vegan bakery that is safe (because I am allergic to eggs also) I still can never eat there because they ALWAYS have something with peanuts as well. Why on earth is EVERYTHING made on the same line or made in the same factory as peanuts. I can get chewy granola bars from Canada that are safe but not the ones from the US....it's an issue with this country.

It is very hard as an adult. I am in college and during last year, I had what we are assuming were 9 cross contamination reactions. Nothing absolutely severe, but all required benedryl and 2 required an ER visit. I just carry my epi pens and benedryl and hope nothing happens...there's not much else I can do. In the real world, outside of these schools, the best precaution you can take is to be prepared...I'm always prepared just in case.

I understand the need to keep kids safe to a point but I don't buy a lot of packaged junk. I make cookies, brownies, muffins etc. and it would really annoy me to not be allowed to send my child in with a snack that I made if I chose to do so. I would never send a peanut product but this whole you must send the ingredient lists IMO is getting way out of hand.

No homemade products because of allergies is a very very common rule because of cross contamination issues.

We began the nothing manufactured or on the same line as peanuts in our preschool in teh peanut free rooms when we found a peanut in one of our kids "peanut free" granola bars. Chocolate chip granola bar had a manufactured on the same line warning and there was actually a peanut in that granola bar. It was a peanut free room so that was not okay. After that, we implemented nothing manufactured on or in the facility rule.

 

[Liberty Belle]

My son is in a peanut free classroom this year, too. We can bring in nuts and peanut butter for lunch, but not for any snacks/parties/etc that are to be eaten in the classroom.

I don't mind at all. I know how horrible it must be for some of these allergic kids and their families. I'm glad to help.

My son's in third grade now, so they don't have snacks every day in the classroom, just for parties, etc., so it's not a bother for us at all.

 

[phorsenuf]

No kiddin'. I wonder why the country doesn't just ban peanuts altogether.

Seriously. I think that goes a little overboard. There are more people that can eat peanuts then those that can't.

 

[Christine]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents.

I do see/read a lot of frustration on the part of the parents of non-allergic children. This is totally understandable. Please be a little bit compassionate though that the parents of the allergic child may not, themselves, be asking for all of these concessions.

My experience with my son was that our school district had their policy on food allergies and no parent was dictating what was to be done. If you had a nut allergy, no matter how mild or how severe, the school handled it one way--usually the most extreme way. The school enforced way more restrictions than I ever asked for and that was just what they did to cover themselves.

So, try not to always blame the parent for "asking the world to revolved around little Johnny" because that may not be the case.

 

[beachcomber]

haha....as someone with a severe peanut allergy, I joke about that all the time. I wish peanuts were illegal sometimes......When all I want is an already made treat (cupcake, cookies, etc) and I find a vegan bakery that is safe (because I am allergic to eggs also) I still can never eat there because they ALWAYS have something with peanuts as well. Why on earth is EVERYTHING made on the same line or made in the same factory as peanuts. I can get chewy granola bars from Canada that are safe but not the ones from the US....it's an issue with this country.

It is very hard as an adult. I am in college and during last year, I had what we are assuming were 9 cross contamination reactions. Nothing absolutely severe, but all required benedryl and 2 required an ER visit. I just carry my epi pens and benedryl and hope nothing happens...there's not much else I can do. In the real world, outside of these schools, the best precaution you can take is to be prepared...I'm always prepared just in case.



No homemade products because of allergies is a very very common rule because of cross contamination issues.

We began the nothing manufactured or on the same line as peanuts in our preschool in teh peanut free rooms when we found a peanut in one of our kids "peanut free" granola bars. Chocolate chip granola bar had a manufactured on the same line warning and there was actually a peanut in that granola bar. It was a peanut free room so that was not okay. After that, we implemented nothing manufactured on or in the facility rule.

My mom jokes about it too...she worries about her 29, oops 30 something (me), year old baby needing a peanut free world. I don't expect that at all! What would the economy look like if we lost jobs relating to peanuts! What would Reese's do? What would the poor starving kids eat? LOL

Now...that my daughter is reacting too...I can see my mom's point. LOL

 

[SaraJayne]

There are totally peanut-free schools, in which there are no peanut products allowed in the cafeteria or classrooms.

As someone said, it can be due to litigation or the fear thereof, or one kid with that severe an allergy attending the school and it just being easier to blanket ban it.

I'm so glad our school isn't one of them.

 

[Liberty Belle]

It must make it hard for those kids to enter the workforce after they get outta school.

I think quite a few grow out of it, but if it continues to be so extreme that they cannot breathe air in a room that had peanuts in it hours ago, I'm guessing they'd get disabililty.

 

[LukenDC]

I think that the OP's school has gone way too far to accommodate children with peanut allergies. I can understand a simple "no peanuts" rule for the classroom. But restrictions on home baked goods and requiring labels is excessive. If accommodating a student with an allergy requires that dozens of people spend time planning, strategizing, and labeling then that accommodation becomes unreasonable. The school should make alternative arrangements for the children in question or the parents should homeschool.

 

[LisaR]

It is very hard as an adult. I am in college and during last year, I had what we are assuming were 9 cross contamination reactions. Nothing absolutely severe, but all required benedryl and 2 required an ER visit. I just carry my epi pens and benedryl and hope nothing happens...there's not much else I can do. In the real world, outside of these schools, the best precaution you can take is to be prepared...I'm always prepared just in case.

Can I assume you are eating the food at the college? My son is 14 and there are only about three places he can eat out at where he doesn't have some type of reaction from mild to severe. He does have multiple other allergies besides nuts. We have told him from the very beginning that if he goes to college he will get an apartment and cook. We taught him to cook from a very young age. There is no way he could eat the college food day in and day out and not get sick. You are taking a huge chance. Be careful!

 

[aprilgail2]

Why on earth is EVERYTHING made on the same line or made in the same factory as peanuts. I can get chewy granola bars from Canada that are safe but not the ones from the US....it's an issue with this country.

.

Well I have to tell you this- I work part time for a food company and even though we don't use peanuts in any of our products and there are no peanuts in the place we put that label on anyway just to cover us from lawsuits "just in case".

I'm so glad my DS wasn't in any peanut-free classes (although, I am surprised). He ate peanut butter sandwiches for lunch all the way through high school. And that's all he would eat, peanut butter sandwiches and Capri Sun drinks.

:

My daughter actually takes the jar of peanut butter and a spoon for her lunch LOL!

I'd be requesting another classroom.

I understand the need to keep kids safe to a point but I don't buy a lot of packaged junk. I make cookies, brownies, muffins etc. and it would really annoy me to not be allowed to send my child in with a snack that I made if I chose to do so. I would never send a peanut product but this whole you must send the ingredient lists IMO is getting way out of hand.

I would be requesting a different classroom too- we had 2 kids in my daughter grade with peanut allergies and they finally started putting them in the same classroom this way only one teacher had to worry about snack time
I don't want to send my daughter with store bought prepacked things all year long-that would annoy me very much!