This year I am only buying three things for each of the kids, last year I did five. In addition to all the things they received from grandparents, aunts, uncles and throw Hanukkah in there, it is a LOT of stuff. So I am being very selective on the gifts. I saw this today and I wondered if any of you, Dear Readers, have any experience with it and if you do could you please enlighten me.
It is Disney Clickables. It looks neat and I think Oldest would be into it, but I am not so sure.
Thanks Friends!
Secondly, Middle has an ever so slight peanut allergy. I realize that out in the world of school it doesn't matter how slight the allergy, the staff at pre-school must take all precautions. We have expressed to him that he should never take food that is offered to him from another child, while at school. When we are with him it is fine. He cannot eat peanuts or peanut butter. He can eat anything that was prepared with peanut oil and has no reaction to anything prepared in a manufacturing plant that also prepares peanuts. You get the idea.
So, the school has provided the entire pre-school class with a list of peanut free snacks. This list is from a parochial school somewhere and it is full of brand name snacks, that we generally do not buy, for one reason or another. I am certainly not an exclusively organic person, nor is my family, however, I do try to limit their intake of crap.
But here is my question. If I am reading labels of the snacks that I buy at Trader Joe's, or wherever, and they do not contain peanuts and were not manufactured in a plant that handles peanuts, isn't it peanut safe? And if my kid is the only kid in the class with this issue, would it stand to reason that his snacks are safe?
I understand that the school must take all precautions and that Middle is only 4 and may now and then take a snack from a friend that he should not. It sort of bother's me that the parents of all the other kids have to deal with this too. Again, I understand the issues of safety. But still.
I can only hope he grows out of this ever so slight allergy. Otherwise it is going to a bummer when he is there full day and has to eat at the peanut free table.
2 comments:
I really enjoy your blog - we are a lot alike! I am already 41 (!), have 4 kids, celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas, and have2 kids with peanut allergies!
Okay, the peanut thing 1st: you are really lucky your school is doing such a good job and 1) has any policy already 2) wants a safe environment for any child who has any problem 3) watching your own snacks teaches caring and compassion for others and 4) you do not have to teach the school or demand from them little things we as food allergic parents seem obviously no big deal.
A lot of us parents of older food allergic children (my son is now 12) have had to have this huge fight to get any attention paid to food allergies in schools, even the smallest concessions were fights with school officials and parents alike. Now, I agree with your feelings completely about your son not needing so much care right now and it is not really worth the potential hassle for the other parents – but this is not only about your child anymore. The teacher or school has to have more children in the school with allergies with 4% of school children currently having allergies, so your school probably has this as a policy for all classrooms. It is a common rule in schools finally.
Other parents will get used to these rules for snacks, and holiday parties, a fundraisers, etc etc and teaching them in kindergarten and preschool will just get them to learn now instead of later. And makes parents aware of food allergies for play dates, too!
Also, remember food allergies do change and can become severe out-of-nowhere. Slight allergies can (infrequently with peanuts) be outgrown, but they can also get worse. Better to have this school policy, and other parents cooperation, just in case. No one wants their child to “hurt” your child through eating an m-n-m cookie. They would be traumatized as well as your son being sick.
Regarding the holidays: I actually have to create an excel spreadsheet to make sure each child has a gift each night for Hanukkah and Christmas so 1)I don’t spend too much on one child vs. another 2) I don’t buy too many gifts and 3)I prepare in advance so I have time to wrap, which I always forget about!
Happy holidays!
I think the Clickables thing is very cool... I may, in fact, get that for Gen. she LOVES the Fairy Hollow stuff, alot. (though she doesn't like the movie)
We do the limiting thing too... I totally understand it's necessity!
Post a Comment