Since I am a teacher and have spent a lot of time in schools, I have noticed how differently each school and district handle food allergies. Below is a list of some of the guidelines that I have noticed when being in a school. Does your child have any of these same guidelines?
-Specific rules/guidelines in classroom, like everyone wash hands before/after eating
-No food or eating in the hall
-No child can share food with another
-A policy of no food or backpacks brought inside the classroom, and everyone who enters must use a handwipe first.
-One-on-one classroom aide for the allergic child
-Classrooms with PAL posters on the wall
-Classrooms with PAL posters on the wall
-Signs outside the classroom that say "Allergy Aware Classroom"
-"Nut-free" lunch tables
How do people feel about these guidelines? Does it help your child feel safer? Do they feel singled out? When I was in elementary school, I was the only one in the entire school with any allergies. My teachers were certainly aware, but it was nothing like the way elementary schools are handling it now. I have a lot to say on this topic, but I would like to hear what you as parents have to say about it? I look forward to some comments!
My daughter has a nut allergy and she'll be starting kindergarten in the fall. Her school will have nut-free grade levels for any grade that has a student allergic to nuts. I'm not so sure how I feel about this. I'm afraid that with all the misinformation about nut allergies, there would be a false sense of security.
ReplyDeleteAnd then there's the whole thing about the child herself learning how to deal with her allergy. Peer pressure, home-baked goods that can be cross-contaminated, people who don't take allergies seriously and would outright lie about what's not in the food just so people will taste it...
Anyways, I could ramble on and on about this. Can I ask you to take a look at this blog post that I wrote? http://karenthecalifornian.blogspot.com/2009/05/nut-allergy.html