Hi all! First time posting. I am mom to 3 year old twin boys. One has no allergies. One had severe egg and peanut allergies but the egg is no longer present (YAY!). So now we mostly deal with the peanut allergy.
They are in part time preschool. All year we have had no problems and I felt very secure in how everything was handled. Till now...
They are having an Easter party and Easter egg hunt. They asked every parent to bring 12 easter eggs filled with candy. They did put on the bottom of the notice due to allergies no nut or nut oil candy.
Okay, but I don't know if I can TRUST other parents with non food allergic kids to know how or remember to do this. For one thing I encounter uneducated food allergy people all the time that have no idea how to read labels or how to avoid allergens. Some in our own family. So how can I trust random parents to handle this?
I am not sure what I should do? Take my chances. Tell the teacher E can only eat the candy I provide for him and to watch him closely that he is not eating or touching other candy. Should I volunteer and be there to make sure myself? I just don't know if I trust other parents to handle this and my guess is the school won't be opening all the eggs and doublechecking the candy. No way would they have time for that. I guess I could ask.
I am leaning toward telling the teacher my concerns and then telling her I will attend the egg hunt and for her to give me the time of it.
Otherwise the school has been great. I left some prepackaged cookies for them to keep in the kitchen for when someone brings in cupcakes so E can have a treat too. They only serve safe snacks in that classroom for E. When they have class parties I make sure to sign up for the cookies so I can make sure to bring ones he can eat.
So this is the first time I have been really actually concerned. Need advice???
I would fill your own eggs and have the teacher guide your child to where he will "find" his own eggs.
I wouldn't want my kids to handle the eggs filled by other parents. It being candy, there is a good chance there is nut residue on them.
Also, I think a better practice for the school would have been if they asked the parents to fill eggs with non-food items. Aren't the kids (preschoolers!) going to get enough crap at home anyway?
I would say go with him, just to be sure. And don't let him eat anything from the school; only what you bring. There's no way to be sure and it's not worth taking chances. Good luck!
Update: I talked to the teacher and she said they don't let the kids open the eggs or eat any candy. They will send it all home with the parents and we can go through it. She said she understood my concerns and that she would not trust the other parents either. The problem was most of the candy did not have labels so it was hard to tell but I think most of it was safe. I don't like them having all that candy anyways so I let them have a couple of the ones I knew were safe and threw the rest out. But it was taken care of.
We went to a couple easter egg hunts one at a church and one at a botanical garden. I had to do the same with that candy. But everything went well and there were no issues.
I'm glad everything worked out!