My 3yo daughter is allergic to peanuts (and eggs), and is starting preschool soon.
When shopping for schools, the topic of allergies came up, and I was suprised at the varying levels of precautions schools take regarding allergies, some based on parents instructions.
I would hear things like "we have peanut allergic kids but none with epi pens" etc. I won't go into further details, but I was really suprised at the varying level of precautions schools and parents take regarding food allergies. I was also suprised at how much preschools rely on parents to educate them, and how often they get it wrong.
Has anyone else experienced that all this variation makes it harder to work with schools regarding allergies? They get confused when one parent of a PA child doesn't mind that the kid next to them eats PBJ, and one has an epi-pen prescription and one doesn't, etc.
My son will go to preschool next fall and I am going to start interviewing preschool this fall. I know my daughters preschool (she does not have food allergies) always asks for none peanut candies, but then on the same paper asks for M&Ms!! So I am very worried about preschool. I think you're doing the right thing by going and talking to the school. I think bc they are not mandated by the states they each have their own policies. I'm in Maryland, and I have learned the the State has issued policies in dealing with Food allergies and then each county has the same or more than what the state reaquires.
Good luck with your school hunt! (I'll be there soon too.)
Ylva
Maryland
Thanks, Gus Mommy! Good luck to you too. I'm sure it will all work out.
It also has to do with the level of the peanut allergy kids they have dealt with too probably. My son is not allergic to someone in the same room eating peanuts. We eat peanuts in this house. He just knows he can't have it and we have to wash our hands after eating it. He really is only going to react if he eats it or gets in smeared on his skin.
So I tell his school its okay if a kid eats something with nuts in it next to him as long as its not smeary like m&ms and then they might think that applies to all PA kids when you know it doesn't since some kids are going to have smell reactions and whatnot.