Words from the wise Sloane Miller of Allergic Girl Resources this week during an utterly fantastic live Google + meeting.  Riding directly off of my high from the Food Allergy Bloggers Conference (#FABlogcon), my Northern Nevada Asthma and Food Allergy Parent Education Group (AAPE) hosted, “Mixing Teens and Food Allergies”,  live with New York City based food allergy author, counselor, coach, speaker and advocate Sloane Miller.  I heard Sloane speak last January in New York City and was in complete awe of her no nonsense practical approach.  I knew she was our girl to speak to the youth in our AAPE group!  So, thanks to technology and Sage Ridge School in Reno, NV who provided wonderful space and support, Sloane brought her A game to Reno while sitting at her New York City desk!  p.s., all my love for Sloane is real, I was not paid by her to say nice things.  I really like her work and LOVED our meeting with her.

Sloane Miller, book cover Allergic Girl, Adventures in Living Well with Food Allergies, photo copyright Kenneth Chen

Sloane addressed many of our parenting concerns and anxieties.  Parenting a child through puberty, in my mind, is simply painful.  For me, to have my hormones going crazy at the same time as teenage son’s hormone’s rage is like some sort of purgatory.  Then, add-on guiding him through his own growing independence of life threatening food allergy management. Sometimes things get hairy in my household.  Sloane, using humor and huge amounts of common sense and compassion, answered our questions, provided research information about transition of responsibilities and even discussed kissing!

Sloane in New York at our dinner–eating out with food allergies!

The teens in the room would have preferred for us parents to have disappeared when we talked about kissing and food allergy studies regarding Saliva and peanut proteins and how long they stay in the mouth.  They handled it well and we are now considering doing a private live meeting with Sloane and only the teens–kicking out all parents.  Sloane reviewed a study that suggested eating a full meal after eating an allergen was much more effective that tooth brushing or using mouthwash!  Sloane did a gorgeous job of being realistic about kissing as we explored with management of life threatening food allergies, which  points back to planning, being prepared for emergencies and educated.  Spontaneity may not be our cornerstone of life, but Sloane lives a large and lovely New York City lifestyle with life threatening food allergies never missing a beat–just as our children will do one day soon.
FYI- Sloane does food allergy counseling and coaching and as we discovered, can be available via Skype or Google +.  She also writes an informative blog, Please Don’t Pass the Nuts from her website .

Thank you Allergic Girl, Sloane Miller for bringing positive food allergy discussions and solutions to Reno from your office in New York City!