While I so wish I could send nuts to school with Avery, if I had a kid who could literally die from exposure to nuts, I would go ape shit if a school didn't support a ban on them. So I support a ban when a child is *severely* allergic to them, however, I still lament the fact that I've lost an entire group of proteins I can't send to school with Avery ... especially when nuts are an easy to pack item and it's a near lock that Avery will eat them.
I second everything Megan said above (and tried to say many of the same things earlier before the comment on my phone mysteriously disappeared--you'll just have to trust me). It's my belief that nuts will be banned in every large public school relatively soon. And if my kid had a severe reaction to them, that couldn't come soon enough.
As for Henry's school, I talked with (the other) Megan a lot about it this weekend, and I have mixed emotions. I think if the kid is severely allergic (which I'm unclear on), that's really tough but I just don't see how you can all of a sudden ask parents to stop sending in nuts or using nut butters when this is the first introduction to school lunches. I feel like it should have been brought up a long time ago. Goodness knows how long things need to be discussed at that school. :)
I haven't made up my mind yet but I'm approaching it from the risk side - bee stings and lightning strike deaths combined total the same number of deaths from nut allergies. Those numbers, ranging from 5 to 150 per year from what I've read, are nothing even close to deaths attributed to car accidents but we continue to drive our kids to school. Bans create a false sense of security. It is far more effective to explain to teachers, adminstrators, parent helpers, and the like what to look for and do so that if a child with an allergy is exposed, he/she gets the help needed.
I bake and cook a lot. And I don't have a child with nut allergies so I don't take that into account when in the kitchen. If I happen to be out of vegetable oil, I'll substitute peanut oil. I'm more concerned that, particularly with leftovers, I will make something with nuts or nut oil not cognizant of the allergy, and that food will be sent to school. I suppose I could start to cook/bake as if Hen has that allergy but that seems beyond anything that is reasonable, particularly since the child loves peanut butter (he has his own jar that he can eat directly out of).
I guess this is where we part ways, though. If my kid was severely allergic, I would not expect the entire school to become nut-free. As for Hen's school, I would probably just ask if I could get a price break in tuition and pick my kid up early.
I think the questions we should ask are: 1. Is a ban doable? 2. What other options do we have? 3. Can we label one table nut-free and only kids with nut-free lunches can sit there? 4. Can the parents teach a class for the other school members and explain what symptoms to look for and how to use the Epipen?
I'm going to think on this some more. We don't have those issues so it's hard to imagine how I'd react.
Interesting. I read this on the same day that my baby-sitter mentioned the following:
"...forgot to give [her daughter] lunch so had her eat a pb j on the way to school. found her covered in pb when we got there, and there is a "no nuts" policy. [got] her cleaned up after some drama with a kid who had a nut allergy. (of course)..."
I am SUDDENLY aware nut allergies are SERIOUS business. not to sound snide, but I DIDN'T realize they were that serious. Your questions are very valid, Christie. Does the ban actually save lives/solve a problem?
(I probe with the caveat that I would probably LOVE the ban if Raine was allergic.) But really? How thorough can parents be? How "safe" is it? Your point about your day-to-day cooking is thought provoking.
I'm also wondering...When did this get so bad? Were kids my age in the 70s and 80s deathly allergic and nobody realized it then? Why is this happening? I find that question fascinating.
I haven't responded yet because I haven't weighed life's liberties and individual rights/choices against risk/safety and so on. So, I feel like my response is not "good enough" because it is not thought through "well enough" and I'm not in a strong position to defend it. I just know how I feel.
There is no way I could look another mother in the eye and claim that my child's right to eat nuts for lunch at school -- 3-5 meals out of ~21 meals of the week -- is more important than her child's need for a safe environment. Peanut allergies are serious business.
Does a ban work? No, not completely, obviously. Certainly there might be a false sense of security. Someone could still knowingly or accidentally bring nuts into the room. Bans do significantly increase awareness though, and I do think it leads to an overall safer environment. Not perfect, but definitely safer.
Needing to use an epipen is a scary situation. Having epipens around does not avoid the nut exposure from happening.
I really feel for the parents of kids with nut allergies. They've all had at least one screaming-ambulance-to-the-ER episode and have to be relentlessly on watch for their kid's health and environment. I am happy to keep my kids' lunches nut free if it can give them a small break in this monumental parenting challenge. I think whining about my kid not being able to eat pbj sandwiches, when they are dealing with life/death issues, basically makes me a selfish insensitive ass.
Such a tough one. At O's school they have a "nut" table where kids who have brought nuts or nut butters must sit during lunch. I guess philosophically speaking I think that kids (and parents, teachers, etc.) need to be aware that there are lots of situations that are beyond our control. Part of our job is to educate our kids (fellow parents, teachers, etc.) about those allergies. But ultimately/eventually, it will be that child's responsibility to keep themselves safe. I would never expect someone to ban wheat from school if my child had celiac disease. I don't expect a school to ban sugar if my child has diabetes. I would expect a school to take reasonable steps to ensure that my child has a safe place to eat. I don't know that a ban falls into the "reasonable" category. If a child is so allergic that they can't be in the same room as peanuts or nut butters, there needs to be an immense amount of trust that other parents/kids/teachers are going to abide by the ban. And what if a child has toast with peanut butter for breakfast? Does a ban extend into my home just to make sure I don't send my kid to school with a speck of peanut butter on their shirt or under their fingernail? Like I said, it's a tough one. Even with all that being said, I would probably go out of my way to avoid nuts and/or nut butters when packing school lunches for my kids if I know that someone in their class has an allergy, severe or not.
9 comments:
Nuts yum yum or Nuts loony loony?
The former. If it were the latter, our kid would be out of luck.
While I so wish I could send nuts to school with Avery, if I had a kid who could literally die from exposure to nuts, I would go ape shit if a school didn't support a ban on them. So I support a ban when a child is *severely* allergic to them, however, I still lament the fact that I've lost an entire group of proteins I can't send to school with Avery ... especially when nuts are an easy to pack item and it's a near lock that Avery will eat them.
I second everything Megan said above (and tried to say many of the same things earlier before the comment on my phone mysteriously disappeared--you'll just have to trust me). It's my belief that nuts will be banned in every large public school relatively soon. And if my kid had a severe reaction to them, that couldn't come soon enough.
As for Henry's school, I talked with (the other) Megan a lot about it this weekend, and I have mixed emotions. I think if the kid is severely allergic (which I'm unclear on), that's really tough but I just don't see how you can all of a sudden ask parents to stop sending in nuts or using nut butters when this is the first introduction to school lunches. I feel like it should have been brought up a long time ago. Goodness knows how long things need to be discussed at that school. :)
I haven't made up my mind yet but I'm approaching it from the risk side - bee stings and lightning strike deaths combined total the same number of deaths from nut allergies. Those numbers, ranging from 5 to 150 per year from what I've read, are nothing even close to deaths attributed to car accidents but we continue to drive our kids to school. Bans create a false sense of security. It is far more effective to explain to teachers, adminstrators, parent helpers, and the like what to look for and do so that if a child with an allergy is exposed, he/she gets the help needed.
I bake and cook a lot. And I don't have a child with nut allergies so I don't take that into account when in the kitchen. If I happen to be out of vegetable oil, I'll substitute peanut oil. I'm more concerned that, particularly with leftovers, I will make something with nuts or nut oil not cognizant of the allergy, and that food will be sent to school. I suppose I could start to cook/bake as if Hen has that allergy but that seems beyond anything that is reasonable, particularly since the child loves peanut butter (he has his own jar that he can eat directly out of).
I guess this is where we part ways, though. If my kid was severely allergic, I would not expect the entire school to become nut-free. As for Hen's school, I would probably just ask if I could get a price break in tuition and pick my kid up early.
I think the questions we should ask are:
1. Is a ban doable?
2. What other options do we have?
3. Can we label one table nut-free and only kids with nut-free lunches can sit there?
4. Can the parents teach a class for the other school members and explain what symptoms to look for and how to use the Epipen?
I'm going to think on this some more. We don't have those issues so it's hard to imagine how I'd react.
No Bees at school either.
#DarrenLacksEmpathy
Interesting. I read this on the same day that my baby-sitter mentioned the following:
"...forgot to give [her daughter] lunch so had her eat a pb
j on the way to school. found her covered in pb when we got there, and there is a "no nuts" policy. [got] her cleaned up after some drama with a kid who had a nut allergy. (of course)..."
I am SUDDENLY aware nut allergies are SERIOUS business. not to sound snide, but I DIDN'T realize they were that serious. Your questions are very valid, Christie. Does the ban actually save lives/solve a problem?
(I probe with the caveat that I would probably LOVE the ban if Raine was allergic.) But really? How thorough can parents be? How "safe" is it? Your point about your day-to-day cooking is thought provoking.
I'm also wondering...When did this get so bad? Were kids my age in the 70s and 80s deathly allergic and nobody realized it then? Why is this happening? I find that question fascinating.
I haven't responded yet because I haven't weighed life's liberties and individual rights/choices against risk/safety and so on. So, I feel like my response is not "good enough" because it is not thought through "well enough" and I'm not in a strong position to defend it. I just know how I feel.
There is no way I could look another mother in the eye and claim that my child's right to eat nuts for lunch at school -- 3-5 meals out of ~21 meals of the week -- is more important than her child's need for a safe environment. Peanut allergies are serious business.
Does a ban work? No, not completely, obviously. Certainly there might be a false sense of security. Someone could still knowingly or accidentally bring nuts into the room. Bans do significantly increase awareness though, and I do think it leads to an overall safer environment. Not perfect, but definitely safer.
Needing to use an epipen is a scary situation. Having epipens around does not avoid the nut exposure from happening.
I really feel for the parents of kids with nut allergies. They've all had at least one screaming-ambulance-to-the-ER episode and have to be relentlessly on watch for their kid's health and environment. I am happy to keep my kids' lunches nut free if it can give them a small break in this monumental parenting challenge. I think whining about my kid not being able to eat pbj sandwiches, when they are dealing with life/death issues, basically makes me a selfish insensitive ass.
Such a tough one. At O's school they have a "nut" table where kids who have brought nuts or nut butters must sit during lunch. I guess philosophically speaking I think that kids (and parents, teachers, etc.) need to be aware that there are lots of situations that are beyond our control. Part of our job is to educate our kids (fellow parents, teachers, etc.) about those allergies. But ultimately/eventually, it will be that child's responsibility to keep themselves safe. I would never expect someone to ban wheat from school if my child had celiac disease. I don't expect a school to ban sugar if my child has diabetes. I would expect a school to take reasonable steps to ensure that my child has a safe place to eat. I don't know that a ban falls into the "reasonable" category. If a child is so allergic that they can't be in the same room as peanuts or nut butters, there needs to be an immense amount of trust that other parents/kids/teachers are going to abide by the ban. And what if a child has toast with peanut butter for breakfast? Does a ban extend into my home just to make sure I don't send my kid to school with a speck of peanut butter on their shirt or under their fingernail? Like I said, it's a tough one. Even with all that being said, I would probably go out of my way to avoid nuts and/or nut butters when packing school lunches for my kids if I know that someone in their class has an allergy, severe or not.
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