Last night I attended an interesting meeting of the Health, Safety and Wellness Committee of our local School Board. They called a meeting to discuss the current procedures for keeping children with food allergies safe at school. They invited our local support group to represent the parents. I really appreciate that our representative, Maria, made a point to focus on our desire to build a positive relationship with the school board. Not only did Maria do a great job of providing insight into raising food allergic children, she also voiced important questions and concerns that parents have about sending their food allergic children to school.
I commend the school board for their interest in becoming educated on food allergies, and taking steps to formally discuss what policies could be adopted to help keep our children safe. I have previously had the opportunity to meet several nurses from out local schools. During these brief conversations I was pleased to learn that they have taken the initiative to put procedures in place to help food allergic children in school. They encourage an open dialog between the parents, educators and school medical staff to develop a plan that will work for each child. As parents we have the choice of where we want to store the Epi pen, where we want our child to sit during lunch and how we want to handle class parties.
Regardless of weather your school has a formal food allergy policy in place, keeping your child safe is about building relationships. Positive relationships with teachers, nurses, friends and other parents that foster open communication. A supportive circle of friends, family and teachers will help keep our children safe. We need to advocate for our children in a positive helpful way. We know more about our child’s food allergies and their reaction than anyone else. It is our job to communicate that information effectively.
It strikes me that another major component should be fostering awareness and sensitivity among non allergic students and parents. We have all read about the case in Kentucky where a school bully put a child at risk when a peanut laced cookie was sprinkled on his lunch. Fortunately this story did not have a tragic ending. The child accused of the bullying is facing some very serious consequences. There are so many people that do not understand how serious food allergies are. Did this child really understand that his actions put another’s life at risk? How do we raise our children to be compassionate and sensitive to those who may be different? This is an issue that transcends food allergies.
Our school district has regular school assemblies. I heard a suggestion that perhaps one of the assemblies could address food allergies. FAAN even has books and videos geared toward kids to educate them on food allergies. Perhaps we could benefit from the same kind of sensitivity training used to foster acceptance of other differences, applied to food allergies.
1 comment:
School policies and the attitudes of "non-allergic" parents are an ongoing struggle for most parents of food-allergic kids. It's hard to make people understand that certain foods are just plain dangerous to our kids. My daughter has peanut/tree nut allergies and I always worry about her at school, even though they have plans in place.
It's great you were present at that meeting. We have to show that we care and speak up when necessary.
No parent should ever feel inhibited when it comes to food allergies--if you don't like the policies of your school, work to change it. I had to do that and I helped get a policy passed that affects the entire school district. It felt like a huge victory!
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