In the spirit of food allergy independence, self management and plain old-fashioned protective measures, we’ve decided to allow our eight year old tree nut allergic daughter to wipe down her allergy lunch table. Only kids with food allergies are allowed to eat there and no nuts are allowed period on the table and an adult wipes in down daily. My son used to carry a huge packet of wipes where ever he went and was the king of wiping down. My daughter never had a chance to wipe down a table thanks to her older brother with good food allergy management skills. The problem though, is just that! Brother was SOOOOO good at food allergy management that we realized his younger sister was not as empowered and self managed as she should be!!!!
- Today’s reminder
The Truth: My tree nut allergy daughter was handicapped by her older food allergic brother who managed the safe environment for her!!!
The Reality: Oops. How did I miss that one!?!
The Solution: Leila is to wipe away! Wiping down the allergy lunch table has now been placed as a requirement in her 504 plan at school too!
Did you ever think life would get down to discussing wiping down a table to protect a life? Who knew. I’m just feeling relieved that we realized this and are now on the road to reminding my daughter to wipe down her allergy lunch table. This brings me to wonder though about how others handle wiping down tables in public when you go to restaurants, the movies, etc.
Do you carry wipes or if you have children with food allergies, at what point are they in charge of wiping down the table? Do you carry a big package or how to do you store individual wipes so that they do not dry out.
Hope you have a fabulous weekend planned that includes wipes!-Caroline
[fbshare type=”button” float=”left”]
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
Long live the empowered girl! As a person with a disabity, I so appreciate this message your are giving both your kids! Taking responsibility for oneself is the best lesson anyone can learn and also conveys that the problem is manageable and not something over which to despair.
Lisa…you are the best role model any of our children with food allergies, asthma or any other disability that hinders a life function! I still can’t believe you do black diamond runs!!! Egads. I want to pop a gray hair just thinking of you doing that!!! Can you share your link for the donation for the disabled sports???
I need to be better about this, we usually cover our eating areas at the park but wiping is a good idea. A ziploc bag keeps them pretty moist.
The ziplock is a good idea too. I think it is easy to forget that if we touch the allergen, there is no problem. It becomes trouble when we touch our mouth, or even worse: our kids pick their noses!
Or pick their noses and then eat it!!! NOT that my beautiful little princess would EVER do that!
My daughter’s last incident was touching her eye, she must have touched a friend’s toy and rubbed her eye so she broke out into hives starting at that spot. Luckily we didn’t have to use the epi, just benadryl.
My son had a rash type of reaction from touching the arm of chair that a child had spilled milk on before! I think that helped him become more diligent about wiping down the table.
I carry these everywhere: http://www.target.com/p/Pampers-Sensitive-Wipes-Convenience-Pack-36-pk/-/A-11260049
The package isn’t too large, they’re unscented to use on sensitive little hands, and my own (unscientific) research shows they remove oil-based residues really well.