Last week was all about valuable blog posts kicking off important conversation by Homa (Dangerous: Splitting Up EPI Two Packs) and Allergy Eats, “Nutfree Schools or Not? Parents Weigh In”. The latter post detailed the results of survey conducted by C.S Motts Children Hospital at the University of Michigan, “Most parents don’t favor bans on nuts in schools, incuding those with allergic kids”, that was conducted last spring. The results were surprising to our friends at Allergy Eats as well as to me! I don’t want to spoil your reading, so I won’t divulge the content of the Allergy Eats Blog Post. Although, there was one result that I truly wanted to discuss further: 25% of parents of children WHO DO NOT HAVE LIFE THREATENING FOOD ALLERGIES supported a ban on nuts in the lunchroom and classroom.
Compare this to 22% of parents of students with life threatening food allergies supporting a ban. This speaks volumes. I’ve spoken to non-food allergic parents who have told me that they would rather buy foods that meet everyone’s need rather than buying separate items. Also, they said they just don’t want to be the cause of child fighting for their life. It seems that this feeling is spread wider than I thought. I wonder if I sometimes let my focus linger on the grumpy parent fighting for nuts rather than the supportive parents?! Think of the old squeaky wheel saying!
For me, the bottom line is that each child and their health status is unique, therefore I believe we need to support individual 504 plan directives first and foremost. If these include no nuts in the classroom, well, then that is what I’ll support. There is no one size fits solutions when you are dealing with individual health issues.
All in all, the lesson to be discussed is the importance of better understanding the safety needs of the individual student and then the community finding solutions that work to keep that child safe while supporting the academic environment.
Thank you Allergy Eats for bringing up this topic of conversation.
Disclaimer: Allergy Eats did not pay me to write about their blog post, “Nutfree Schools or Not? Parents Weigh In”. Actually, they have no clue that I am writing this post today! Allergy Eats is a paid advertiser on my website and they have never asked me to promote their website or App on social media, in blog posts, etc. I share since I fully believe in their product and am a frequent user myself.
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!..