Ahhh, allergies. Thanks for writing about them here. Theoretically, I agree with your position that students should learn to keep themselves safe- it's the execution that's problematic for me.

This might be a disjointed comment because I think a lot of things about it. My disclaimer is that my son is anaphylactic. He reacts not just from ingesting peanut and tree nuts, but from contact as well.

So, I think the idea of teaching children to be responsible for their own safety is imperative. However, a 5 year old is not always able to do the smart/right thing and the consequences of, say, eating someone's peanut butter ritz bit (which looks just like the cheese kind) because it's offered to him, will likely send him into shock and if the teachers/nurse can not respond quickly enough then perhaps death. So the consequences of placing too much responsibility on a 5 year old (or 6 or 7 or..) who is very likely to make a mistake or use poor judgment are far too great.

If we are talking about middle schoolers or high schoolers... I am with you. They have more skills to make better choices (theoretically, anyway :)

I'll try to illustrate just one fear of sending my son to school: he sits at a nut-free table in the cafeteria which also contains 230 of his closest friends. The other children eat whatever they want for lunch. So they have a yummy pb&j or fluff sandwich and head out to the playground for recess. On the way out they run their hands along the tables that they pass, the trash bin, the door knob, then the tether ball and the monkey bars and the ladder to the slide and....

Now my kid is out on the playground with the likelihood of residue on everything he touches. And guess what? It's still there the next day. Only more, because it happens time and again day after day. The playground is swarming with other kids and it's far from the nurses station. Too few aides are available to make sure that no one is being bullied or going out of bounds or having a brawl about she gets to use the swings next. So, it's likely an aid will not see him right away and when s/he does then s/he may not recognize what's happening immediately. Suddenly, long minutes have passed without administering the Epi-pen that will quell the reaction.

And that's not all- sometimes the reaction is delayed... so he could be exposed but react an hour later when he's on the bus home or at a gym class way down at the track...

Now- I know all too well that the chances of that type of exposure exist everywhere we go- every door that we touch every shopping cart that we push every public toilet that we touch... and it scares the crap out of me. But my son's school should take reasonable measures to keep him safe. The logistics of hand washing before recess are a nightmare. There is no easy solution. But I'm pretty sure it's reasonable to take reasonable measures to limit the chances of exposure.

Also- as a parent of an allergy kid- the isolation can have long term social implications as well. My son only ever gets invited to parties once. That's not easy for an 8 year old kid.

So, that's the perspective I offer. I yammer on and on about this all of the time. Sorry. I've written about it at GNMParents several times, and my next post will be about the social implications (thursday).

And I know I sound like an over-protective hoverer- I'm not- well- except about the allergy thing. It's not an over reaction. It's very literally life or death for my kid.

ps: try sunflower seed butter- it is even better than pb- especially in recipes.

Meg - thanks for offering a fresh perspective on the subject. You clearly have a lot to say on the matter ;). I really do feel for you; the example you've laid out would scare me as a parent in your situation as well. A couple points I'd like to bring up:

"If we are talking about middle schoolers or high schoolers… I am with you." At what age are most children (or adults for that matter) capable of being accountable for their own actions?

What about wheat allergies? Should bread and pasta be eliminated from school lunch menus? And children who are deathly allergic to bee stings... Should flowers be removed from school property to protect these children? Where do we draw the line? Do we draw the line?

One additional question: do you know why the prevalence of nut allergies has seemed to have increased over the past few decades?

Thanks for your response. I appreciate it.

For me, it's not about being "accountable" but about having the skills and knowledge to make the choices that will keep them safe. There is an enormous difference there. A 5 year old shouldn't be expected to read a label with accuracy when they are just learning to read Dick and Jane stories. A middle schooler can read a label well enough to hold that responsibility. The "she should know better" line of reasoning can't apply here.

Just yesterday my son came home and said that one of the children had put a beechnut in a time capsule which also contained a ball that my son put in. He came home and asked me if that was a tree nut- we looked it up together and now he knows.

The where does it end question is a good one. To my knowledge (and I am no expert) wheat and egg allergies don't usually result in anaphylaxis. Regardless, (and this is a key point) nut allergies are unique in that they have so much oil that is left behind- a gluten allergy, or milk, or eggs do not. Also some people's allergy can be triggered by the dust that's released when cracking nut shells.

I understand that you are being asked to change your child's eating habits to protect my child. But please remember this is not a preference or a choice- it's a medical condition. We (the schools, the medical professionals, the kids with allergies and their parents) ask you to make these accommodations so that our children will not die.

And for the record, no, I do not believe that altering the ecosystem by removing flowers would be considered a reasonable measure.

As far as the why question- even allergists can't answer that question.

-Megin
GNMParents
Maine-ly Megin

I'm a homeschooler, so I don't have a stake in this issue either way. I can understand the frustration of parents trying to deal with getting their kids to eat enough protein being made to find a source besides peanut butter. I also appreciate how hard parents of kids with various allergies and food sensitivities have to work to find foods their kids can eat, plus having to help their kids navigate safely in the wider food world. I do know kids with severe nut allergies and these kids can sense the presence of nuts before others can smell them--because their bodies begin to react: throat tightens, skin itches, eyes water. Just being in the same room as a PB&J sandwich can cause serious problems for these kids.

It's crazy, though, isn't it? I grew up in the 1970s and there was one girl I knew who had allergies and asthma. I never knew anyone with nut allergies until I became a parent five years ago. What's different about kids today that they have these problems? A lot of research suggests that it is a matter of the toxic chemical and heavy metal burden that children bear today, that we did not contend with as kids. In 1991, the number of vaccinations in the routine childhood (actually, infant/toddlerhood) immunization schedule DOUBLED. Those vaccines contained mercury in outrageous amounts--beyond what the EPA deemed safe for adults--and that didn't change until about 2000. Additionally, we have toys laden with lead paint, tuna full of mercury, plus pajamas, furniture, carpet, bookcases, sippy cups, air, water, food, cars, you name it...full of chemicals that were not part of the human landscape until very recently. The load of these chemicals and heavy metals seems to really create problems for some kids, who develop allergies, asthma, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorders. They are burdened with these chemicals and heavy metals and their bodies and brains, thanks to a combination of genetics and nutrient deficiencies (thanks, processed food industry and soil-sterilizing agribusiness!) are unable to detoxify, instead they develop autoimmune disorders and neurological disorders. It may be hard to believe, but when you take a clear-eyed look at the research, it does not seem far-fetched at all and in fact, makes perfect sense that we have seen this epidemic of allergies, asthma, autism, and ADHD today. We have literally poisoned our world and our children are paying the price.

(For a more cogent explanation of the toxics-burden theory of childhood epidemics, read Kenneth Bock's Healing the New Childhood Epidemics.)

While I can certainly understand and appreciate the frustration parents of children with severe allergies encounter, I do think the school systems, some of them, have taken things too far with the crazy "anything that's been made in a facility that processes other products containing nuts."

It boils down to what can be reasonably prevented without causing undue burden on everyone involved. Bee stings can cause death in people who, like my husband, have a severe allergy. But that didn't prevent him from playing outdoors, camping, hiking, etc. He and his classmates didn't have to stay inside at recess time because of his allergy. That, to me is the difference - all of the children shouldn't have to suffer because of one child. He carries an Epi-Pen - as do several children in my daughter's school with severe peanut allergies.

As a group, we voted not to have our center peanut-free, and the parents of the children with the severest of allergies agreed with us - they didn't WANT the rest of us to have to be burdened with the problems of their children. And to this day, 3 years after that vote, there hasn't been a single allergy-related incident in the school.

Your mileage may vary, of course.

My son also has a peanut allergy. He attends a parochial school where the school lunch is completely peanut free but where kids are allowed to bring in peanut based products for their own lunch. My son knows that he needs to avoid contact with peanuts and that if somehow does eat any peanut product, he needs to go to the nurses office immediately after telling a lunch room monitor. The teachers also know that my son cannot eat any peanut products so they monitor treats that come in from outside the school (as on birthdays).

I like the system that my son's school offers. We can allow him to buy lunch at school with as much confidence as we can send lunch from home. Mistakes do happen (as when an ice cream vendor somehow managed to include peanut pieces in the vanilla ice cream at school) but my son has learned that if something does not seem "right" he should not eat whatever is being served. The school's policy does not stop other kids from bringing peanut butter from home, but it does ensure that kids with peanut allergies can participate in the school lunch that is offered (which is really important to my son since he would rather have freshly baked cookies that are still warm for dessert!).

I have a 2 1/2 yr old son that is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts and sesame. His nut free pre-school which knew of all his allergies since day 1 has been extremely accommodating - ever since they had served Hummus with sesame tahini as a snack and thought it would be okay to serve the other students since he was still napping. And then the severe allergic reaction started - his eyes swelled, his face followed, along with hives, etc - because the school was not aware of cross contamination. They thought it had to be physically ingested - and all it took was another child eating it, playing with a toy he then played with, and then he either rubbed his eyes, touched his mouth, etc.

The teacher is now obsessive about protecting his health and safety, which I appreciate whole heartedly. The classroom is now free of not only nuts but sesame products. Notes have been sent out to the parents, there is a note on the door, and if there is ever an item in question, it gets tossed.

We didn't know his reaction to sesame - we had him tested after he had a severe peanut allergy reaction that landed him in the ER. We found out what nuts he was allergic to - and the allergist tested him for sesame because interestingly enough - a large percentage of people with peanut allergies have sesame allergies. The problem with his even being exposed to sesame at this point is that the first reaction is usually less reactive - it's the 2nd time they are exposed that you need to be concerned about. It's more often than not, more severe. The hope is that they will grow out of an allergy - if they aren't exposed. Typically, this happens around 3 or 4 yrs of age. Peanut allergies usually aren't outgrown though.

We are scared to death of his entering kindergarten. We are researching peanut free schools in NYC. We will do anything to protect our son and his life. Because even if they have a peanut free zone, it doesn't matter. All it takes is for him to share a toy with another child that had a peanut butter sandwich, and we are talking epi-pen, ER and possibly anaphylactic shock. We don't know what his 2nd reaction will be like to peanuts. The first was severe.

The parents in his classroom have been very accommodating to his allergies and I am extremely appreciative. I beg every parent out there who groans or complains about not being able to serve peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at lunch to look at it from another angle - what if it were your child that could die? Wouldn't you do everything you could to protect them?

Ahh.. I hate allergies. Hay fever is the worst.