Back to School : Peanut Allergies
 

What are your thoughts on schools banning peanut related food from schools?

I had a "discussion" on FB regarding this and was hoping to get a broader sense of what people thought on this subject.

Case: Child has SEVERE peanut allergy where even smelling peanuts will cause airways to close. Contact or consumption will result in possible death.

The parent sends this child to school and now the school must be peanut free.

Discuss.

Berz out.

Most schools and school districts have adopted some kind of plan.


http://www.vancouveranaphylaxis.com/school-info.html


Sign o' the times.

I think this is a good idea. A peanut/peanut product ban is needed in schools with the allergies that students can acquire these days.

You can't be too careful.

Although I am not a parent yet, I have seen how deadly peanut allergies can be to some people. A co-worker almost died when another colleague started chewing a Snickers bar near her desk. She had to stab herself with an Epi pen.

it sucks
but that seems to be where the world is trending now
allergies are on the rise and there are so many theories out there why it is
i know someone who is deathly allergic to peanuts, so it does make sense to make the school peanut free.

personally, i think it's because people are bubble wrapping their kids too much that they're not able to develop immunities to allergens/irritants

It really depends on how severe the allergies are, before a school adopts the peanut-free policy. That's probably why it is left up to each school.

PBJ, my favourite!

If your child happens to be severely allergic to something, it is hell. If it weren't for the invention of epi pens, most people would probably die.

Thank god my children were just mildly allergic to things like milk products. My daughter is allergic to nuts, but can have peanut butter........ like WTF?

Also, most of these parents who have children with severe allergies are pretty cool with it. They are an understanding bunch. I imagine there would be some loose cannons out there, like the woman who didn't get a large rice bowl.

Ever notice the amount of Asians with peanut allergies? Not many. Probably because of diet?

growing up 30 years ago, my buddy would've starved, because the ONLY thing he ever ate, through 7 years of elem school, was PBJ. anyways ...

I think that's BS myself -- what happens if they step outside, and their neighbor eat eating a reese peanut butter cup? There has to be some personal accountability. Wear a surgical mask if you have that severe of a reaction (I don't actually know if that works, just saying that as an example)

I thought it was just some hippie dippie bullshit people made up just like the glutton free "celiac disease" that's spreading around.

Just load all your kids up with peanuts and gluttonous rice balls and send them out packing to thin out the heeerrrd!!! just kidding.... or am I?

What if it was your daughter? Would you home school her? Send her to an all peanut allergic person's school?

It's a tough one. In my days, people just didn't know........... like ADHD. What people eat these days may be causing the rise in the frequency and severity of peanut allergies in people.

If the allergy is controllable by the individual, then it shouldn't be banned at schools. I'm not in the medical field by any means, but as someone mentioned above, are surgical masks, or allergy masks, etc. an option?

I don't believe that the masses should accommodate the few due to this issue. What if someone was eating peanuts next to you at the bus stop, on the bus, in the skytrain, at rogers arena? I mean it might be even worse for the kid, cuz other kids might start bullying them due to this or the kid might even feel like shit and embarassed cuz they're doing this to their classmates. I don't have any kids so it might be different if I did, but logically, I believe the schools should do their best to accommodate (train teachers with epi pens, raise awareness, etc) but not outright ban.

What did they do with these kids back in the 80s and 90s? I vaguely remember certain kids having allergies but no one was ever restricted on what they could bring for lunch.

Honestly I wouldn't send my kid to school in the early elementary years. To much risk, and not to mention you are making an entire school, and all people associated (parents, Teachers, Students) responsible for making sure you child comes home alive.

By choosing to send your child to school, you are effectively saying "You must cater to my child" What if my 2 year old son has a peanut butter sammich for breakfast. (which he does) and hugs sister good bye in the morning (which he does) and gets peanut butter on the back of his sisters shirt. His sister then goes to school and comes into contact with a child with the allergy. That child goes into arrest and dies. Who's to blame?

Berz out.

It seems like the number of kids with (pea)nut allergies has increased since i was a kid. Also, the severity of the reactions is something I don't ever remember encountering in the 80's and 90's. There were 2 kids in my class in elementary school that had peanut allergies. They weren't affected unless they consumed peanuts. There were instances I remember them spitting out some candy due to peanuts, and they were fine afterwards.

The mom on facebook's daughter's throat swells up just smelling peanuts. Contact by touching results in anaphylactic shock and consumption would be pretty much death. So why do you think it's a good idea to put this child in a position of danger like a public school system and why are you putting such terrible onus on the school and parents of children in that school to not Kill your kid?

All the friends of the mom were obviously on the bandwagon and there were a lot of "It's only 7 hours a day, you can avoid nuts for that amount of time" "There are alternatives to peanut butter, Wow Butter you can use" "There are nut free bars you can send with the children" "Where is your compassion?"

Berz out.

Perhaps the mom is prepared for the worst and just wants people to be careful and be aware of the situation. If it's that bad, there's really nowhere that is safe.

Anyway............. waiting for the usual RS comments. I'm surprised there hasn't been any yet.

I have a cousin who’s allergic to everything.

Don’t know how that happens when we grew up eating primarily similar diets..

I'm sure they just don't want their kid to become a weirdo with no friends having to be homeschooled. Sucks about those PB sandwiches though, that's an elementary school staple.

knowing badass people they would probably say fuck off and continue eating they're food as normal....long as it isn't Tuna stinking the whole god damn place up.

That's cause God gave them lactose intolerance instead.


God bless

What would the repercussions be for a parent who sent their child to class with a PB sammich? Would the school kick that child out of school therefore saying "Your child is not as important as this child with allergies."

Berz out.

it's not hard to be peanut free, there are so many peanut free snacks out there.
packing own lunches though... i don't use peanuts, usually just ham and cheese sandwich, macaroni, or pasta.
My daughter hates peanut butter anyway...

and yea, I never heard of any kids having life threatening allergies when I was kid...

I'd be much more concerned about all the other coddling the world/parents do to their kids, as opposed to sheltering them from allergies.

BTW: The smell of peanuts causing a deathly allergic reaction is apparently a myth. Schools should really do a better job of screening stuff like this so misinformation isn't passed around.

In any case, I'd say it's up to the parent of the child to equip their child to deal with their allergies properly rather than make everyone else conform. This should be providing them with the education of what their allergy is, what to expect and how to treat it and how to detect and avoid the source of the allergy. (as well as informing a responsible adult - i.e. their teacher)

It's difficult to expect 100 parents to know that Billy has a peanut allergy, Sarah has an egg allergy and little Davey has a gluten sensitivity and not to pack any of this stuff in the kid who has no allergies' lunch.

That sure is one hell of a shitty situation.

RIP