Talking Allergies

I am terrified for when our son starts school. Ok, that might be a few years away but seeing how my daughter's classroom is run this year puts me into full panic mode. Last year she was in a so called peanut free classroom, they were in a portable with no running water. No child including the allergic child could wash hands before eating or after eating for the entire school year.

This year my daughter's classroom is in the school but is peanut friendly. I won't take my son into her classroom! Tthey had a class breakfast where humus was present, honey nut cherrios , coffee cake with walnuts on top!!! My husband, myself with our son and our daughter sat in the hallway and ate our own snack I brought from home.

Last week in order to see a presentation of my daughters my husband took an hour off work in order for me to go to school, they say they aren't liable if anything happens to my son and heaven knows I'm not comfortable with him in that classroom. So I walk in(rght after lunchhour) and the first thing I see is the remnents of a mini food fight, butter and who knows what are spread all over the cupboard and floor, food crumbs are everywhere on the floor. This isn't the first time I've been in the classroom and seen food everywhere on the floor. Forget allegies , why are our children eating like animals at school. So all this contamination (unlike what they keep telling me) is NOT contained to this classroom. Their shoes, their hands the books on the dirty desks all create transfer to doorknobs, computer keyboards, gym equipment, text books which will maybe next year be in a peanut free room???? I don't understand all this. I realize there might not be an option for peanut/nut free, I am a realist, but is this what they call minimizing the risks?????????? How do other nut free classrooms in this school keep those anaphylactic children safe? Children move classrooms for presentations, movies, crafts, different subjects, all these crumbs of food are being trapsed about the school.
To say I'm terrified is an understatement, all I hope is for a clean room, wipe the desks after eating, wash hands after eating, is that too much to ask.
When I went to elementary school all children ate in the gym, it was organized, we had to stay seated, they needed less monitors as all students were together and cleanup was less as everything was contained and with teacher supervsion students were less likely to become unruly.
Emotional topic, yup, I am so vigilant it makes me literally nauseous to think that my son will in a few short years be in this type of environment for 7 hours a day.

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DD 12 yrs -no allergies
4 yr old DS - asthma/eczema Anaphylactic to Peanuts, all tree nuts, sesame , all pea/lentil legumes, gelatin.
Allergic to trees, grass,ragweed, feathers, dander, mold and dust.
Outgrew eggs, fish, shellfish

That kind of behaviour in a classroom is unacceptable allergens or no allergens. I have worked in over 10 schools and I have never seen that kind of problem at lunch. The teachers and administration need to step in and do something. At our school, the kids stay in their seat for lunch and then a supervisor dismisses them to put away recycling and garbage. In my daughter's class, one student cleans the desks and all students wash hands.

Allergens can be managed. Your school just has a lot of work to do!! How terrible for you! Talk about integration - eating your snack in the hall!! Imagine if a physically disabled student was segregated like that. Good luck. Have to run can't add more now.
Kate

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11 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema
9 year old son - no allergies

This is what happens when students are left unattended while they eat. Our primary schools aren't designed for children staying over for lunch (at least none that I've been in). Those built in the '70's, when many families were single income earners are designed for students to go home for lunch. Incorporating the lunch hour has made in impractable to do anything but keep students in their seats and the teachers union allows them their breaks. SO you get students unsupervised.
One thing I'm looking forward to in grade 7 is the school cafeteria. Odd as that sounds.
Oh, and food fights scare my daughter. She sees them on tv and in movies and she doesn't think their funny at all.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

A few months ago, a woman wrote a letter in to Today's Parent magazine about the absurdity of the "Peanuts are not the enemy article", stating that anything that could cause the death of a child at school needs to be banned. Period.

I was so angry reading her letter!!! My son is allergic to nuts, shellfish, but most of all .... milk protein. He is anaphylactic with all these foods, but has never had an "accidental" exposure to nuts or shellfish.

To me, the banning of peanuts and tree nuts in school is like telling me that my kid's life isn't worth protecting - they're playing the percentages because by banning the nuts, the are covering about 70-80% of the allergic kids. The rest just have to suck it up!

That being said, I don't want nor have I ever asked for the banning of milk products in our school. Every teacher that we've had to deal with has been more than happy to accomodate my requests to have him sit at a separate table (each day he gets to choose 1 kid from the class to sit with him and they all want to do it so they've had to implement a daily draw system - this is Grade 3). If that child has yoghurt or cheese, they are extra vigilant about keeping it away from him.

I wonder how the Mom who wrote that letter would respond if I told her that I would be happy to keep nuts and peanuts out of my kids' lunch, as long as she kept out cheese, yoghurt, milk, butter, etc.... ? And don't try to tell me that peanut butter is any more dangerous than yoghurt! That stuff gets everywhere!

I think food bans provide a false sense of security, and create an environment where the child responsible for the ban becomes a target of un-educated parents and their kids.

Education of our kids, teachers, and their friends and family is truly the KEY to keeping our kids safe from bullies and food. Not food bans.

To boot our daughter came home a couple weeks ago and said her teacher wanted to get a hamster for the classroom. To make matters worse she called out our daughter by name and said but first she'd have to check with me because of our son's allergies. She should have considered the children who presently attend the school who are anaphylactic . Our daughter's class is so contaminated this year with nuts that that class is a lost cause now anyway. The teacher should have said she first had to check with the school if there were any issues and not call our daughter out by name causing her entire class to become irritated with her.
I wrote a 'nice' letter to the teacher and let her know that although there are many hamster foods which may be nut free I do have an issue in general with pets at school due to allergies as well as asthma. Here we are dealing with asthma at home and trying to keep a clean home environment and then our child will eventually go to a school full of fur!
In a class where kids already do NOT wash desks or hands or sweep the floor of food I can just imagine adding a pet!!
The insensitivity regarding the entire allergy issue really upsets me. What gets me most is these are nice people, but they really don't regard their actions as being insensitive which I think upsets me the most.
Home schooling has crossed my mind more than once this year I can tell you that.

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DD 12 yrs -no allergies
4 yr old DS - asthma/eczema Anaphylactic to Peanuts, all tree nuts, sesame , all pea/lentil legumes, gelatin.
Allergic to trees, grass,ragweed, feathers, dander, mold and dust.
Outgrew eggs, fish, shellfish

BC2007-I think that's awful how your daughters teacher behaved. Have you discussed the teachers in the letter? So basically, in the eyes of the students, if her class doesn't get a hamster it's all because of your family? That's bullying! If she had plans and concerns about those plans, she should have discussed if with you in private prior to geting the classes hopes up.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb