# Nut Free School Policy??



## GoodFairy (Mar 31, 2004)

I was just reading a thread about schools that apparently prohibit children from bring nuts or even nut spreads on sandwiches to school??

What's that all about? I've never heard of such a thing.

Is it because some people are allergic to nuts or are they worried about choking or what.

It seems a bit odd to me.

Do they ban other foods as well or just nuts?


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## cjr (Dec 2, 2003)

DD's school is nut free and it's a royal pain in the but. I understand how dangerous nuts can be to some children, but I wish they could find another way to handle it. Her school has this rule to prevent other children with nut allergies sharing lunches that could cause a reaction.


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## GoodFairy (Mar 31, 2004)

Wow thats a pretty extreme way of dealing with allergies.

Wouldn't it be more appropriate to ban sharing lunches and maybe have some anti allergy medicine with the nurse in the first aid room for what must be the very rare occasions reactions occurred?

I'd be angry as a parent if someone elses health problems impacted on me and my children like that. Where do they draw the line. There are plenty of other allergies out there. Do they cater for all of them or just nuts and if so why do the nut allergy folk get preference over all the others. What a minefield!

(No offence to those with nut allergies)


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## lao80 (Feb 24, 2004)

This bothers me, too, but it's because some people are so allergic that they can't even come into contact with the oils or breathe it in. I've read about people that have to fly super early in the morning so that there is no chance of peanuts being served.


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## Mirzam (Sep 9, 2002)

There is a little boy in DD's 1st grade class that has a life-threatening allergy to peanuts and fish. The school does allow nuts and fish, but they provide a nut-free, fish-free table in the lunch room. No snacks with nuts and fish are allowed in the classroom though.


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## emmaline (Dec 16, 2001)

good fairy these precautions are for children who have life threatening anaphylactic reactions to nuts and they will have "anti allergy medicine" (in this case a spring loaded shot of adrenaline/epinephrine called and epipen) at the school, but an anaphylactic episode followed by epipen use whicjh then requires an ambulance ride to the emergency room is a pretty extreme thing to experience so we hope to lessen the chance that this will happen to our anaphylactic kids

my (nut-allergic)son's school is not nut free and we have never pushed for this approach, but all the kids are now aware of anaphylaxis and staff are trained in epipen use etc

have a quick google about anaphylaxis, it's something everyone should know about and it is increasing every year


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## christina (Apr 3, 2002)

good question...
I love it because it raises awareness.
My son, 4, is fatally allergic to all nuts. Because of this, I have never been able to leave him unsupervised by me...
We have done a Co-op preschool for the past year and a half...where I can watch the snack time in process and be on hand nearby with an epi-pen.
Many groups do not allow an epi-pen to be left on site in case they fail to use the epi-pen quickly enough, and later sue the responsible party - so, even when I have offered this, it has been denied.
We have raised my son with all kinds of books about nut allergies, geared towards preschoolers, but he would still put the piece of candy in his mouth if he stumbled upon it...(even M&M plain are an allergen and the number one cause of reactions because of the peanut oil coating) as he has done while at a neighbors in one unsupervised minute.
Kids love to eat what everyone else is eating too...and we want him to feel a part of the social group so we try to be sensitive to his very social nature.
I have also heard of kids teasing another about something having nuts in it, or not having nuts in it...our worst nightmare come true. As he gets older, he'll carry his epi-pen himself...
I have a seven week old now, and I pray every night that this new baby not have the same affliction. It is a horrible burden that has dictated much of our life the last four years.
Thanks for your question.


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## cjr (Dec 2, 2003)

I understand the reason behind it and I am so thankful that my girls do not have nut allergies. It's just so hard to come up with a good lunch for school, when that's what they enjoy the most.

I know that if I were a parent of a child with a nut allergy I would be thanking the school board every day, but nuts are everywhere and it limits the choices of foods the girls can take. They love all sorts of nut butters and whole nuts. Being a mom who is mainly a whole foods person it really does limit them. No trail mixes unless I make it myself and that's just way to expensive to do, no peanutbutter/honey...banana sandwhiches, no granola bars with sunflower seed, nothing with any trace nuts in it. Even though I make my own granola bars different nuts add for variety.

The thing is that I don't think there is a child at their school with a nut allergy. I think it's just a rule the school board is implementing. Even in dd's kindergaden class last year they were not allowed to bring nut products, but no one in either class had an allergy.


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## love2all (Dec 13, 2003)

My sil was telling me about this last summer and while i totally understand the life threatning situation my heart goes out to those families who can hardly afford much more than peanut butter in their dcs school lunches.....kwim?


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## EFmom (Mar 16, 2002)

We have the world's stupidest nut-free policy at my dd's school. There is a child at her grade level, but not in her class, who has a nut allergy.

Every class at this grade level gets elaborate instructions about what they may and may not bring for snack or lunch. Now, my dd is no more likely than anyone in a different grade to interact with this child, but because they are at the same grade level, we have to be nut-free. Not only does the off-limits list include nuts, nut butters and nut oils, but foods processed in facilities that also process nut-containing foods are forbidden.

Every year we get a 20+ page handout listing certain brands of items that are acceptable and ones that are not. So for example, supermarket wheat thin type crackers from Hannaford are good, but the same thing from Price Chopper are forbidden. In addition, there is a long list of other ingredients that don't sound like "nut" but are related, so we are supposed to scrutinize labels for these chemical names.

It's insane to expect everyone to spend countless extra hours every week to grocery shop. In addition, sometimes children have grandparents, etc., pack their food and it is unreasonable to expect them to do this.

There is a peanut-free table in the cafeteria for allergic children and who ever else wants to eat their nut-free lunches with them, which is fine.

But the icing on the (nut free) cake is guess what is on the menu in the cafeteria every single school day? Yup, PB&J. So we have to take extraordinary precautions with a snack consumed in a different room than this child, but it seems to be OK for him to eat lunch surrounded by PB&J.


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## kavamamakava (Aug 25, 2004)

My husband has a banana allergy. He's so allergic that even touching a counter top where a banana had been sitting will send him to the hospital. Shaking someone's hand who has banana in it can set him off. The other day, he drank orange juice made by a company that also processes bananas. He ended up at the hospital. That's how nut allergies are. A kid may not even need to get a bite of a PBJ to need medical assistance. I'm assuming that child will be carrying an epipen jr. around though. It's a needle and an adult needs to administer it.
Let's say a kid eats a PBJ and then leaves and the nut allergic kid sits down to have lunch. S/he puts his/her hands down on the table and then rubs her eyes. There was a tiny smudge of PB that dripped from the former child's sandwich. Suddenly the child start to have puffy eyes, runny eyes/nose, hives develop...by the time the kid tells and adult, the child is in danger of going into anaphylactic shock. They locate the epipen and administer it but they still would need to call 911 to get medical attention to make sure the epipen had enough medication and the child is stabilized. Then, of course, they would have to call the parent(s).
As you can see, one tiny speck of peanut butter can cause quite a stir. I think it might be easier to just keep a better eye out for the allergic child so that if there IS an allergic reaction, an adult can respond in time. The only problem with that is allergies like that get worse with continued exposure. It sucks to live like that


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## LunaMom (Aug 8, 2002)

I understand the reasons behind nut-free policies in schools but wonder if they are really effective. I recently learned that children with the most severe allergies might not even be safe in a "nut-free" school.

This past summer my daughter attended her preschool's summer program and a boy who has a nut allergy was in the program as well. The preschool itself was nut-free, but the mom addressed the other parents at orientation and explained that even if a child had had peanut butter for breakfast at home it could be a danger to her son - if the child had not washed her hands after consuming her breakfast and then came to school and touched her son's hand, this could be enough to set off an allergic reaction. She asked everyone to make sure their children washed their hands and brushed their teeth following breakfast if they consumed peanut butter or anything containing peanuts.

Her speech made a lot of the parents uncomfortable - some did not even realize the school had a nut-free policy because preschool during the year only included snack, not lunch, and at least one mom said, "But all my daughter eats for lunch is PBJ, so what on earth am I supposed to send in her lunch box?" I was glad that my daughter does not like peanut butter!

This is riduiculous - a friend of mine in a neighboring school district said that parents had been instructed not to send in peanut butter, but meanwhile, the school has PBJ sandwiches available on the lunch line daily to kids who do not like the hot lunch option of the day. What the hell is that?

Another friend told me that all the kids with food allergies have to sit at a separate table in the lunchroom.

It seems as though schools are adopting a number of different ways (some better than others) to deal with food allergies in children. Some certainly seem to reduce the risk (such as the nut-free policy), but I imagine it is very scary for parents whose children have such severe allergies, as in the case of the child mentioned above.


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## Lucky Charm (Nov 8, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kavamamakava*
A kid may not even need to get a bite of a PBJ to need medical assistance. I'm assuming that child will be carrying an epipen jr. around though. It's a needle and an adult needs to administer it.
Let's say a kid eats a PBJ and then leaves and the nut allergic kid sits down to have lunch. S/he puts his/her hands down on the table and then rubs her eyes. There was a tiny smudge of PB that dripped from the former child's sandwich. Suddenly the child start to have puffy eyes, runny eyes/nose, hives develop...by the time the kid tells and adult, the child is in danger of going into anaphylactic shock. They locate the epipen and administer it but they still would need to call 911 to get medical attention to make sure the epipen had enough medication and the child is stabilized. Then, of course, they would have to call the parent(s).
As you can see, one tiny speck of peanut butter can cause quite a stir. I think it might be easier to just keep a better eye out for the allergic child so that if there IS an allergic reaction, an adult can respond in time. The only problem with that is allergies like that get worse with continued exposure. It sucks to live like that









There was a child like that at my youngest elementary school. I said "was" because the parents withdrew him. Our school is not nut free, and this child cant even "breathe" in the smell of peanuts or sit next to a child eating a PB & J sandwich. I don't know if the mom being there at lunch was an option for her (meaning, if she worked or not, because parents are welcome to have lunch with their kids every day if they want). I can only imagine how scary it is. I have cared for kids in the ER with allergic reaction, some so severe they had to be intubated.

I feel bad for the kid who had do with draw, but seeing how so many of the children enjoy peanut butter sandwiches, crackers and other peanut type foods,. it would seem overwhelming to limit 749 kids for just the one child.


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## Meiri (Aug 31, 2002)

A school making all the "nut-free" rules while serving PB&J has gone straight through stupid and out the other side IMO. If a child is that allergic, the smell of it in the air can set off a reaction. I could see the school keeping such a child out of the cafeteria if the cafeteria is seperately ventilated, making sure all children wash hands after eating....and keeping the classrooms strictly nutfree. That could work.

But people being bothered by the nutfree efforts bothers me. Are these children supposed to be denied an education or just die for our convenience?

If a kid "won't take anything but PB" grow a spine and TEACH that child to eat something else already.







:
Are we parents or not?


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## EFmom (Mar 16, 2002)

If it were a matter of not bringing nuts or nutbutters to school, I wouldn't be bothered by the effort. But to tell me I should spend extra hours at the grocery store trying to acertain whether a box of crackers has ever been in the same zip code as a peanut does bother me. I think it is completely unreasonable to expect that every family will do this.

I also cook with peanut oil frequently for cultural reasons. I try to be careful, but it is unreasonable for the school to advise me to stop using it in my home, as the guidelines suggest.


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## Lucky Charm (Nov 8, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Meiri*
But people being bothered by the nutfree efforts bothers me. Are these children supposed to be denied an education or just die for our convenience?

If a kid "won't take anything but PB" grow a spine and TEACH that child to eat something else already.







:
Are we parents or not?

They arent being denied. Their parents can teach them at home, or transfer them to a nut free school.
And i dont think i have to grow a spine at all. I have a nice strong one, thank you very much, to put up with parents who want to limit my child and others so they can not be there to advocate and watch their child. Why should other children be forced to eat cold cut sandwiches, and other foods they dont enjoy? Not everyone eats organic hummus on bagels. Or fruit with pretzels. and what about pretzels or other foods made in a plant with peanut oil? Like EFmom says, am i to spend more time in the grocery store than i already do?


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## christina (Apr 3, 2002)

Just as a follow up:
The most commonly thought reason that nuts have become problematic is that nuts are cheap worldwide and they make a great filler en masse.
A famous story is of a female LaCrosse player, 18, who died in a restaurant after ordering chili while traveling for a tournement. Many restaurants use PB as filler...cheap, fast and easy.
Scrutinizing boxes for ingredients has become necessary for many of us because those boxed foods are so very processed and machine made: the more ingredients, the more refined and non-nutritive.
And, it's only because a grass roots movement of parents demanded the FDA begin to list their ingredients that we have that information now.

It's thought that many kids walking around have undiagnosed food allergies or maybe just sensitivities. My husband & I have no allergies..but my son has the now very common triad of _eczema, asthma, & nut allergy_.

Some scientific theories behind the 500% increase in nut allergies...(a genetic protein defect).

*over-abundant use of anti-bacterials (soaps, etc).
vaccinations
environmental pollution*


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## cjr (Dec 2, 2003)

What's the difference between a child who goes to a school without a nut-free policy and a child who attends a university or who goes out into the workforce when older? I assume that children with nut allergies with alway have them? So, if some kids can have a reaction by just touching a table that has been touched by someone who touches a pbj sandwhich that can send them to the hospital...would'nt it also be true that same senerio could happen at a college or university or the work place when the child is older? What about the mall? What about playcenters and parks? No matter what age the child is, he/she is always going to run into a non-nut-free environment. So why is it such a big concern in the elementary schools? I agree if the nut allergy is that severe then maybe other school arrangements should be made. If my child had that severe of an allergy I don't think I would be able to send him/her to a public place without my being there to. I guess I just don't understand why all of a sudden there are nut-free rules in school when the children are also living outside the school?

I understand how mother's of children with nut allergies can feel passionately about this topic, but seriously, what do you do when your child is in a different location other than school?

I don't understand why a whole school has to take such drastic precautions for one or two child/ren. I think it should be the other way around. And no it's not fair to that one child that has the allergy has to be home schooled or placed in a small monitored school setting, but it's also not fair to the 250+ other kids that have to be limited because of another childs allergy.

JMO! Cause I'm allowed to have one.


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## Catarina (Aug 26, 2004)

(Quote - originally posted by sweetbaby) People need to understand that their allergic child is not the center of the universe. and to make several hundred other students and their families to accomodate, to bend, isnt always feasible.[/QUOTE]

Each child is the centre of the universe. And being accommodating to each other, and bending to other people's needs, isn't a bad thing. We never know when we might be asking the school to install a wheelchair ramp for our child, or provide an anti-bullying strategy.


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## TeaBag (Dec 18, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sweetbaby3*
People need to understand that their allergic child is not the center of the universe.


I realize that my son isn't the center of anyone's universe but mine. He certainly isn't the center of yours. But put yourself in my shoes for one single instant. Your child eats PB & J for lunch. He then sits at a table and touches the table. The oil is transfered to the table. My son comes in and touches that table. He dies within minutes. THAT is the fear that I live with daily. I have two other younger children, I *cannot* be in his school every single minute of the day. I *cannot*. I don't expect his school to become nut free, although I would truly love it if they would. I cannot protect him from everything. But this self-centered attitude from parents like you infuriates me. My son knows he can't eat other kids lunches. I have trained all the faculty on properly dealing with a reaction. *I* have done everything I can to eliminate the possibility that he might be exposed.

And every single time the phone rings while he's at school, my heart jumps into my throat because of the fear, the true terror that lives in my soul...I will get the call that my precious son is dead due to some other parent saying "Well, they just need to learn their child isn't the center of the universe"

Give me a break. And please, give those of us who deal with this terror every single day of our lives a moment of thought, a moment of consideration. Please.


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## PikkuMyy (Mar 26, 2004)

I don't know that this is an issue that will be solved any time soon.

I was one of "those" children - and still am with nut and sheep milk allergies (why sheep, I don't know.) Here are my thoughts on the matter:

1. Anaphylaxis is a VERY scary thing - especially to have as a child, when you aren't very good at articulating what is going on with you, and when YOU have to be the one to decide you are going to a hospital, and what kid likes to go to the hospital? It's hard to say the least.

2. I think that we should redefine nut-free as peanut-free. I am allergic to all other nuts as well (except almonds - go figure!) but I don't know anyone who gets anaphylactic reactions to any nuts but peanuts. (There are a very few who get it to sesame seeds.) So as far as I know, it's peanut-free not all-nuts-and-seeds-free. And if it isn't, it should be so that people can send their kids in with other types of nut butters and seeds.

3. I think it is reasonable to set some standards WHEN THERE IS A CHILD with allergies in a class/grade. Like a special place to have lunch and make sure that child has buddies to eat with, or peanut-free snacks OR lunches (but maybe not both). But some of the rules PPs have mentioned seem ridiculous to me. So many companies process peanuts as well as other things. It is really unfair to force every single family in a school to shop a particular way for one or two students.

4. I think the reason the peanut-free thing has caught on even though many people get anaphylactic reactions to other foods (like me with sheep milk - no feta or parmesan cheese) is that soooooo many people are allergic to peanuts. They certainly seem like a food our bodies were not designed/evolved to eat. I don't know of any other food that causes as many anaphylactic reactions as peanuts. So it makes sense to have rules about this particular food since the chances of having at least several children in each school with this allergy are high.

5. The reason I think it's important to have rules in an elementary school versus other adult places (of course I'm still allergic - even more so, as Kava mentioned, these allergies get worse the more you are exposed to the food) is that children are not very good at saying "no" to foods even if they know they are allergic to them; reading labels; and interrogating people about the food they have. Also, other children may not know what is in the food they have. I was at camp and asked a girl who was sharing her pizza if it had any cheese on it besides mozarella. She said it didn't and it was homemade so I (as a 10 year old) believed her. But after she'd made it, her mother had sprinkled parmesan on it and she didn't know. But she sounded so sure, so I ate some. And had another trip to the ER. I also ate things by mistake, not knowing they had nuts in them, like "plain" M&Ms.

I think there needs to be a balance between the rights of children with allergies and the rights of the other children in their classes. But many schools seem to find this balance easy to reach. Perhaps some are more fearful of lawsuits than others; or perhaps in some districts parents are more pushy about getting rules like those instated. I'm not sure.

That's my two cents.


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## Lucky Charm (Nov 8, 2002)




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## Lucky Charm (Nov 8, 2002)

And shall we talk more about my self centerdness?

OK let us do.

I volunteer at the school to tutor the special needs kids. and i work in the lunchroom, and playground. and i do crossing guard when its 10 below zero. You know why? because _no one else will._

and so while you are calling me self centered and that i should "consider" your child, i can assure you i consider all children, the ones i care for in the ER and the ones i am with daily at the school. oftentimes i am exhausted, coming home at 8:30am, after being there 14 hours. I make a pot of coffee, and take a shower and then go to the school.

I tie shoes, zip coats, open milks, serve the applesauce, kiss boo-boos and calm scared kids who have climbed too high on the monkey bars. And let me tell you, it ain't for the money honey, i do it because i *care*.


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## Catarina (Aug 26, 2004)

Someone mentioned balancing children's rights. Children have a right to receive an education. They do not have a right to eat their absolute favourite food every day. It is offensive to suggest that a child with a disability, for that is what this type of allergy can amount to, be segregated at home or in the school office, so that other children can continue to eat their peanut butter sandwiches.


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## TeaBag (Dec 18, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sweetbaby3*
And shall we talk more about my self centerdness?

OK let us do.

I volunteer at the school to tutor the special needs kids. and i work in the lunchroom, and playground. and i do crossing guard when its 10 below zero. You know why? because _no one else will._

and so while you are calling me self centered and that i should "consider" your child, i can assure you i consider all children, the ones i care for in the ER and the ones i am with daily at the school. oftentimes i am exhausted, coming home at 8:30am, after being there 14 hours. I make a pot of coffee, and take a shower and then go to the school.

I tie shoes, zip coats, open milks, serve the applesauce, kiss boo-boos and calm scared kids who have climbed too high on the monkey bars. And let me tell you, it ain't for the money honey, i do it because i *care*.

Okay, first of all, I have to laugh. Check out your signature line, *honey*. Your halo seems a bit too tight right now. I don't give a damn what you do. Honestly, I don't. I volunteer as much as I can at my son's school, dh is military, so I don't as much as some others due to deployments, etc. But this is NOT about what you do at school. For the record, my son *does* eat lunch at home. I don't even allow him to go into the lunchroom at school. I am not a negligent parent, so get that out of your head. I never said you were self-centered, I said the attitude was. And it is. Has your child almost died from someone exposing him to something he should not have had? You've done it to other people's children, but was it YOURS. Do you know the fear in a parent's heart as they stand and watch medical personnel work on your child, without knowing if that last moment you had with them would be your last? Do you? No. You DON'T know. You CAN'T.

You're right, my son isn't your responsibility. He's mine. And while he's at school, he's also theirs. I must trust that they will do what they can to keep him safe. Isn't that why you go and volunteer so much? To help keep kids safe? To protect them as they cross the street? To help them get off the too high bar on the monkey bars? Yours seems to be a very caring attitude, one of a truly generous spirit. So what I don't understand is this hositility towards those of us who have a true fear about losing our child due to an allergy. What is it, truly? Why are you so completely over the top on this subject? You obviously care about children other than your own, and yet you make comments like "Their child isn't the center of the universe". I never said he was. But is it too much to ask that you make this little allowance to keep my child safer? Is that really too much to ask of our society? Am I expecting too much from a fellow mother? A fellow believer in children's rights? I don't think so. So then what's this really all about?


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## Lucky Charm (Nov 8, 2002)

Adjusting my halo.

I just think that my son has much a right to eat his beloved pb&J sandwich as your child has to be free from his allergen.


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## Houdini (Jul 14, 2004)

Someone earlier (I think) questioned whether any other things were not allowed. I do know that at the local high school they do not allow latex balloons (or latex of any kind for that matter). They are two boys (brothers) who are so allergic that they can't even be in a building where there is latex w/out having risk of death. I do know that it isn't always limited to food allergies.


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## kavamamakava (Aug 25, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sweetbaby3*
And shall we talk more about my self centerdness?

OK let us do.

I volunteer at the school to tutor the special needs kids. and i work in the lunchroom, and playground. and i do crossing guard when its 10 below zero. You know why? because _no one else will._

and so while you are calling me self centered and that i should "consider" your child, i can assure you i consider all children, the ones i care for in the ER and the ones i am with daily at the school. oftentimes i am exhausted, coming home at 8:30am, after being there 14 hours. I make a pot of coffee, and take a shower and then go to the school.

I tie shoes, zip coats, open milks, serve the applesauce, kiss boo-boos and calm scared kids who have climbed too high on the monkey bars. And let me tell you, it ain't for the money honey, i do it because i *care*.

I'm not sure what this has to do with peanut allergies :/


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## kavamamakava (Aug 25, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Houdini*
Someone earlier (I think) questioned whether any other things were not allowed. I do know that at the local high school they do not allow latex balloons (or latex of any kind for that matter). They are two boys (brothers) who are so allergic that they can't even be in a building where there is latex w/out having risk of death. I do know that it isn't always limited to food allergies.

That's the allergy my husband has...except he doesn't seem to need hospitalization from latex, only banana (which is in the same allergy group).


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## Lucky Charm (Nov 8, 2002)

I was told i or my attitude was self centered.

Because actions speak louder than words, i wrote what i do for children everyday. Mostly, other women's.


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## laralou (Nov 27, 2001)

I reported this thread to the mod of this forum for obvious reasons, but I wanted to thank APMom98 and others for educating me.

Since the last thread we had on this issue (which by the way went the same route as this one is headed), I have made such an effort to eliminate nut products from our diet outside the home.

I work in a church nursery and when we have PB products brought, I scour everything. We have no PB policy, but I try to do what I can to make the world a safer place for your little ones.

I honestly can't imagine the mindset that my child's dietary preferences should supercede your child's right to live. I also don't think it is acceptable to tell the parents to keep their kid home.

I think if everyone did treat others the way they wanted to be treated the world would be a better place. I don't just want this to be a safe and happy world for MY child. I want it for your children as well. I wish everyone felt that way.


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## TeaBag (Dec 18, 2003)

!

Thanks and sorry again, sweetbaby!


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## laralou (Nov 27, 2001)

I wanted to add this:

It isn't valuing one child over the other. It is valuing a child's want (to eat pb) over another child's need (to exist in a pb-free environment). Even if you compare a child's want (to eat pb at school) with another child's want (to go to school and make it through the day alive), I still think child #2 should win.


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## laralou (Nov 27, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Catarina*
Someone mentioned balancing children's rights. Children have a right to receive an education. They do not have a right to eat their absolute favourite food every day. It is offensive to suggest that a child with a disability, for that is what this type of allergy can amount to, be segregated at home or in the school office, so that other children can continue to eat their peanut butter sandwiches.

That's what I was trying to say.


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## Lucky Charm (Nov 8, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *laralou*
I wanted to add this:

It isn't valuing one child over the other. It is valuing a child's want (to eat pb) over another child's need (to exist in a pb-free environment). Even if you compare a child's want (to eat pb at school) with another child's want (to go to school and make it through the day alive), I still think child #2 should win.

Point taken.









APmom98,


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## HerthElde (Sep 18, 2003)




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## laralou (Nov 27, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sweetbaby3*
Point taken.









APmom98,









SB3 you rock.


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## Satori (Jan 30, 2003)

sigh... thank you for reminding me of the #2 reason I wanted dd home schooled. She cant even smell PB without having a reaction and the school has already decided her classroom and kindergarten playground will be peanut free but for lunch she would have to go to the office to eat and with dd being a social butterfly I found that unacceptable and there's the risk of some kid bringing the peanut protein from the cafeteria back to the classroom where dd can come in contact with it. It had slipped my mind and home schooling really is not an option for us anymore. Now I dont know what the heck were going to do! There are at least 9 kids with life threatening peanut allergies in our district and there has been talk of moving all the kids to 1 school and making that school peanut free but I dont see that happening.


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## christina (Apr 3, 2002)

Fair question about difference between children at school, vs. them in malls...
and them at school vs. in the world as they go through life.

While at school, they are less likely to be noticed going into anaphylaxis shock....so the setting is a contributing factor...it's a numbers game.
Many nut-free parents homeschool for this very reason.
While my friends or family are with my son, they have an epi-pen on their person, nearby, at hand.

When they are adults, they will know the symtpoms of shock, and be able to inject themselves with an epi-pen. Many adults often treat themselves during shock, and some die while attempting to get to their needles.
At this young age, they are still learning about their allergies and how to respond to shock.

And, the reason _Nut-free_ and _Peanut-Free_ is interchangeable is because many peanuts are falsely labeled as other more expensive nuts, ie almonds, cashews...This is especially common in imported foods.


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## xenabyte (Jul 16, 2004)

*The statement about there being a 500% increase in peanut allergens is Amazing!*

I want to point out, that peanuts are a legume (not really a nut, it's a misnomer), and they are in the same 'nitrogen fixing' plant family as soy beans. There is some controversy as to whether they should be consumed, rather than just used as a 'rotation' crop to enrich the soil. (They pull nitrogen from the air and convert it to nitrates to basically 'fertilize' the soil.)

There are Egyptian pictographs that show soy type crops being planted 'in between' regular crops, but NOT being used as 'food'. Interesting huh?

_*Just a personal 'theory' here...so bear with me:*_

Here is the list of just SOME of the things George Washington Carver (bless his soul) did by studying the peanut and then making 'derivatives' from the various chemical compounds found in it:

Carver discovered more than 300 uses for peanuts, from foods of all types (cheese, milk, peanut butter, peanut brittle, salad oil, Worcester sauce, tofu sauce, coffee, flour) to inks (printer's ink), dyes, soap (antibacterial soaps, esp), shaving cream, vanishing cream, shoe polish, shampoo, face cream and powder and many other cosmetics, creosote (a wood preservative), wood stains, paints, plastics, linoleum, laxatives, medicinal oils, metal polish and synthetic rubber.

I highlighted antibacterial soap because of an earlier post, and also the plastics, but how many of these products do you or your family use? You can hardly get away from them.

Now, bear with me, and to just concentrate on one 'peanut derivative product, plastic...there has been MANY discussions regarding the potential 'leaching' of compounds from plastics into our bodies via water or food containers, under certain situations (heating food, storing food, etc.)

What if these [synthesized] chemical compounds, derived from [or chemically similar to] peanuts, somehow have set up recent generations for super sensitivites and life threatening allergic reactions? Cumulative exposure (we're the plastic generation..it's in everything) would set us up for ever increasing potentials for having more and more of our populace having allergic reactions to foods and products (latex, etc) because these compounds are [somehow] related and would 'sensitize us' to other products that have similar chemical compositions and sharing compounds found in peanuts.

I wonder if there is something to the 'soy' issue, as well, for some of the same reasons. It originally was a 'soil fixing' plant, that just happened to be a source of protein (like peanuts) but that necessarily isn't the greatest thing to be eating.

These are just some thoughts. I would love to see a truely unbiased study on this, but gee, can't you see the Plastics lobby preventing something like this, if there was even an OUNCE of truth? Think about it...plastics are in all our vehicles, homes, toys, food containers, most equipment and computers!

I feel for the mom's with children with such severe allergic reactions, the thought of my baby on the floor having a life threatening reaction is scary stuff. I also see the point that it's hard to get kids to eat a good protein source, and sometimes PBJ is the cheap, and only alternative for a tight budget.


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## Meiri (Aug 31, 2002)

As far as I can tell, the vast majority of plastics are petroleum oil based. But that doesn't change the basic concept that this stuff is literally everywhere. Latex sometimes seems just as difficult to avoid.







:

When a child is young, they can't keep track of every little thing that might be nut related. They don't completely understand all the implications. As they get older they learn to detect the allergen better, have more of a clue as to what they need to avoid, get better at speaking up for themselves. Once they go away to college, they're that much more ready to be responsible for themselves. So to use college and malls as justification for refusing to help protect allergic elementary aged children is bogus, a smoke-screen, a cop-out IMO.

Homeschooling is not an option for every family with a severely allergic child either.

Thank-you Laralou, because frankly the day I hear of an average middle-class child dieing for lack of a PBJ is the day I'll consider that Want to be of equal importance to the allergic child's Need.

And having just been through a hospital exerience and having seen how very careful they were regarding allergies, I am very surprised to have seen someone who apparently works at a hospital being so cavalier about this issue. But I shouldn't be.







One of my sisters is an RN and she is very cavalier about my allergies, though she was careful enough when her own child had reactions from the very smell of PB. Go figure.


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## srain (Nov 26, 2001)

I would fear that kids and staff at peanut-free schools would become too lax. At those schools which instruct all parents to avoid all foods even processed in the same facility as peanuts, I would be afraid that potentially incorrrect assumptions would be made about foods' safety, even though not all families will comply. Do peanut-allergic kids usually react to the mere presence of these foods, or only to residues of actual peanuts or peanut butter? (Not intended to be a snarky question; I honestly don't know.)

How would this work for a school policy- the kid's classroom is peanut-free, and kids with peanut-free lunches may choose to eat in the classroom with the allergic kid; all others would go to the cafeteria. Post-lunch handwashing would be mandatory for all (reducing germ spread too!)


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## Satori (Jan 30, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *srain*
I would fear that kids and staff at peanut-free schools would become too lax. At those schools which instruct all parents to avoid all foods even processed in the same facility as peanuts, I would be afraid that potentially incorrrect assumptions would be made about foods' safety, even though not all families will comply. Do peanut-allergic kids usually react to the mere presence of these foods, or only to residues of actual peanuts or peanut butter? (Not intended to be a snarky question; I honestly don't know.)

How would this work for a school policy- the kid's classroom is peanut-free, and kids with peanut-free lunches may choose to eat in the classroom with the allergic kid; all others would go to the cafeteria. Post-lunch handwashing would be mandatory for all (reducing germ spread too!)


It varies from kid to kid. Like I have to eat peanuts to have a problem but my dd cant even breathe peanut dust without having a severe reaction.


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## emmaline (Dec 16, 2001)

no sign of the OP... good fairy you asked a simple question and got some full on responses, you can see it's a very serious topic for many of us

i really wish i'd had the level of knowledge displayed here when my ds1 started kindy 10 years ago, we didn't even have an epipen and general knowledge in the community about anaphylaxis was almost zero - but the only reason more people know about it now is that the rate has risen so high


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## Meiri (Aug 31, 2002)

That sounds like a reasonable plan to me Srain. Only things I would add, since some kids are sensitive to the smell, that the cafeteria be separately vented and maybe toothbrushing or mouthrinsing after a peanut lunch.


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## Tanibani (Nov 8, 2002)

My son's preschool was peanut free last year b/c 3 kids had an allergy.







I don't have a problem with it at ALL. In fact, nobody at the school did. I think it's great that the school cares so much to do this for them... it's really no big deal... kids can eat a whole bunch of other things for lunch.








I just can't imagine being so upset about it.


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## christina (Apr 3, 2002)

tanibani...love your sig line.

some of this debate sounds like the cigarette smoking debate -

Or, maybe the same old argument of safety vs. convenience.

these boards are geared towards being the most sensitive and conscious as possible (_Natural Family Living_)...and that usually implies that we want the minority represented and cared for...that's why the Mothering site community is special and unique.

As for me, being a mama to a boy who could die from a stray peanut, I am willing to accept that the responsibilty is mine, 100%.

A common joke is that sending our child to school is like sending them into a room with loaded machine guns. Sounds dramatic, but it's accurate.


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## GoodFairy (Mar 31, 2004)

I have just logged on after a few days off the air.

I'm almost speechless. I had nooooo idea this was such a contraversial subject.

I truly didn't mean to create any bad feeling or ill will and I am sorry if anyone has been upset as a result of my original post.

For what it's worth I have had an education and probably others have had too. I thought allergies caused runny noses and swelling type symptoms and couldn't understand why there would be such an extreme policy in existence for one type of allergy only.

I guess now the answer is obvious.

Curious though that I've been in the school system here with my kids for 14 years now and it has never, ever been mentioned or even thought of at our schools or at any of anyone I know.

Thanks and my heart goes out to those suffering with this allergy and their parents.


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