Wearing Medic-Alert bracelet in Middle School

pDeeJay,/p
pPerhaps your son would rather wear a medic-alert pendant instead of a bracelet if he doesn't want to draw too much attention to himself./p

pAll of my children wear MedicAlert jewelry. My oldest child is going into the 8th grade at middle school and wears her necklace inside her shirt. (She is not my PA child but wears hers for another reason.) I do not have trouble with her wearing her necklace but had trouble with her gym teacher. I have told my children that they DO NOT remove their MedicAlerts for ANY reason. The gym teacher made Heather remove her necklace. I was shocked! I called and told her the the necklace DOES NOT come off for any reason. She apologized and said that kids are buying MedicAlert type jewelry at the beach and wearing it whether they need it or not. She allowed it to stay after our discussion on the phone. I told her if she had any problems with it, she should have called. After that incident, I tolded my children not to remove their jewelry even if a teacher told them to and to ask them to call me immediately. I could not believe the attitude of this teacher asking a child to remove their MedicAlert jewelry./p
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Tammy Lynn/p

pMy PA daughter will enter 8th grade this fall. She does not wear a medic-alert bracelet anymore. We have made this decision as a family and are comfortable with it. First of all, her close friends are aware of her allergy. The teachers all know. (a letter goes around to all of them at the beginning of each school year) This is an age where appearance means alot. (not good but we all know it's true) Unfortunately, a cute girl with good grades can rub some kids the wrong way, and I am sure this highly visable bracelet could give ammunition to the wrong kid. We have decided that this personal info isn't everyone's business, only those we choose to tell. She did wear the bracelet until around 5th grade, but even then it was a struggle because she would break out from the metal. Like I said, this decision was carefully thought out and we listened to our daughter's concerns of having to wear something that other kids don't. We have been very fortunate, her last reaction was in kindergarten.br /
Good Luck!br /
Beth/p

pMy son is 7 but I worry about someone forcing him to eat something as well. Kids are so mean and as teens they get worse. I cannot imagine not having him wear his bracelet or having him remove it as he gets older. My fear is that someone cannot help him medically if they don't know what he's allergic to. I guess it's a toss up -- damned if you do and damned if you don't. Kids are going to be mean and I worry about giving them more amunition. I'm going to watch for more comments to see how others are handling. Thanks for the topic!/p

pHow do you get a Medic-Alert bracelet? What info fits on it?/p

pHi,my son is 14 and has had a great time with kids understanding right from the start. My problem is with the aids they bring in to help with classes. The kids are very concerned with the fact that he may die from peanut. He is also very allergic to walnut and pistachios. The child he fortunatly picked for a close friend hates peanut butter so that issue was easy to get through during lunch hour. He will wear a medic allert braclet or necklace and the kids would never care or think twice about it. I have always gone to school the first day or earlier than that and told them that if anything happened to my son because of neglect they would be arrested as if it were attempted murder because sometimes noone listens. One time he did get peanut in the snack bar and the aid accused him of faking that he could not breath. The child was going into anaphlaxis. He was very bad and the school nurse was not there then and they had a mother from off the street taking care of the health office. Yes we did raise some stir in that school and were not real popular with the staff,but my child is more important than popularity. I think that a child would have known that he needed the epi-pen and given it to him. We have shown all of his friends and parents how to use it and if he goes with them so does the epi-pen. If they refuse to do so then they are not smart enough to take Chris. He has only had a few episodes because we are wicked careful and so has he been. I really don't think kids are as cruel as we like to say they are. Give them a chance I bet they never make fun of the bracelet. I could go on all night with issues. Good luck and take care. Claire/p

pHey!! Im 13 and havent worn my medic alert bracelet since about age 10. My friends and teachers know, I dont want any jerks with "bright ideas" to know. Bye!/p
p ~Robin~/p

pHi, my son is 10 yrs old and has 1 more year of grade school. He still wears the medic alert bracelet, I was just thinking about the same concerns with him going to intermediate school next year. So far the school and kids have been wonderful but next year will be a whole new thing. Some kids are mean no matter what and I have just told my son to try his best to avoid anyone like that as best as he can. I do think we will get him a necklace for next year instead of a bracelet./p