Just reading Cindys threads and had to really think hard.
I have never pushed for a complete ban on Peanut in the class room , or school( did consider it at one point).
Let me explain, all teachers once in the 'know' about allergies, agree that peanut butter/ nuts, etc in cookery are not to come in to Williams classroom.
Peanuts do come in the school via sweets and snacks ( eg sinicker bars) that mothers bring in to celebrate birthdays. These are handed out at end of day , and children encouraged to eat them once they have met mothers etc in the playground before going home.
Head teacher has asked for parents not to bring in peanut/nut products in to school in packed lunches. That was some time ago , I know that some do have peanut butter sandwiches, but a great many have followed the heads request.
I have to also work with the other food allergies, like egg , which crops up quite often in cookery lessons. Sometimes these lessons can be worked out to safely included William.
I would never ask for an egg free school either, or a bean free school.
If there was a problem, other methods of allergy avoidance would have to be suggested and implemented within the school.
I am never going to ask the head to proclaim that the school is nut/peanut free. Things work better if I directly involve each class teacher/ class room assisitants in Williams care.
I feel uncomfortable with nut bans, for nut bans we need nut inspectors! Someone continually checking to see if a school is nut free. I can hardly see that happening in a busy school.
Of course as a PA child grows older they should automatically start to avoid food that may contain allergen as a matter of habit. ( hmmm, perhaps not habit, but survival)
This does not mean that I disagree with other parents here, who have pushed for complete bans, but simply to put across that all of us have different methods of keeping our school age children safe.
Protocals in schools are meant to be idividual.
What works for some children , may not work for others.
I push for allergy awareness in those in Williams care, and for William I spend time preparing him for avoidance of his allergic food in a world that will always contain them.
sarah
I never attended a peanut-free school. Those type of things did not exist when I was a child many eons ago.
However, if I was a child in school again, my preference would be for a peanut free classroom (for grades 1-8). I would not want peanut products in the classroom (ie: peanut butter sandwiches, Snicker's bars, etc), however, in my personal case I would allow 'may contains' as I would not consider them any threat to myself.
For high school, I would not require any restrictions in what kids brought from home for lunch. However, I would want to cafeteria food service to either be peanut-free (for the food they cooked.. if they sold Sniockers bars that is ok since it is sealed - won't contaiminate the other food being cooked), or to be very allergy aware so any day there might be a dish with peanuts I would know to avoid the area. Although I would prefer the food service to be peanut free due to cross contamination issues. But in high school, if another kid brought a Snickers bar that would be fine as I would sit with my friends to eat lunch and they would not bring peanut products as they are my friends so a 16 year old at the other end of the cafeteria eating a Snickers bar would not affect me in high school as I did that for 5 years.
In fact, in my high school I worked in the school store and I actually sold Snickers bars, Oh Henrys, etc to other students, so hard for me to argue that I would need a peanut-free high school.
But from grades 1-8, I would definitely want a peanut-free classroom (with may contains allowed) as at that age it is more risky. Although if the school banned 'may contains' I would not fight it.. fine with me [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
Quote:Originally posted by erik:
[b]
I never attended a peanut-free school. Those type of things did not exist when I was a child many eons ago.
[/b]
"Long, long, long ago...............in a galaxy far away..................."
Hi Williamsmummy:
I have also not requested that my sons school/class be peanut free. (Actually in preschool, we did request his class be peanut free--not "may contain" free, only because preschoolers are sooo messy). But now that he is in kindergarten we have just operated on the same basis we do in the rest of our life.
My reasoning is that I feel it is important for my son to learn how to navigate in a peanut filled world. I know others feel that this won't work in their situation (which is fine) but it has worked for my son (so far).
The thing that I feel best about is that although he if very aware of his allergy and (so far under close supervision, of course) he does not feel too burdened by it. In our case I would rather expend my energy in teaching my son to navigate the school, than try to change everyone elses eating habits. I try to work within the least restrictive environment that we feel we are comfortable with.
Regards,
Kelly
I also have not felt the need to request a peanut free school or classroom. My dd is in 3rd grade and things generally have gone smoothly. Snacks at our school are also given out at the end of the day to take home if there is a class party. My dd always has an extra treat in her backpack in case there is something handed out that she can't have or isnt sure about during class.
As far as a contact reaction, this hasnt happened at school. My dd is sick frequently, little colds trigger asthma and so forth and her resistence just seems less than other kids, so she keeps Clorox wipes in her desk to wipe things down.
There are kids at her lunch table who do eat pb/j and this doesnt seem to bother her, but she will not sit right next to them. Although if four or five kids had this for lunch it might and she then knows its ok to leave the area and eat with the nurse. This actually hasnt happened. I guess there are not many pb/j lovers at her table - Thank goodness! I ate it almost every day when I was a kid!
Maggie
Quote:Originally posted by MommaBear:
[b] "Long, long, long ago...............in a galaxy far away..................."
[/b]
Unfortunately, it was a long time ago! haha Time goes by so quickly. And I love Star Wars too.
My PA dd is starting school this fall. She will be in 2nd grade. We homeschooled for K and 1st. She did go to preschool for a year, and they voluntarily went peanut free.
I am specifying in her 504 that foods containing actual peanuts be handed out after school, as the kids are leaving for the day. May contains may be eaten in the classroom, but my dd won't eat them.
I am also going to suggest to the principal that the cafeteria go peanut free. Apparently they have already reduced the amount of peanuts they serve (they already have several PA students at the school). When I looked at their menu, I only see 3 peanut items served. Trail mix is served during breakfast, no-bake cookies are served once a month for lunch, and pb&j is sometimes an alternate to the main entree. So it doesn't seem that hard to replace 3 items. I am not going to insist on it though, but am hoping they see my point and like the suggestion.
That way, my dd could eat lunch in the hot lunch room and not ever have to sit next to someone eating peanuts. The cold lunch kids eat in a different room, so they could bring whatever they wanted.