Loaded Question and Kinda Long

My kid's school has a peanut free lunch table and I think they have special rules if the child with the allergies is in the class. They have thirty tables in the cafeteria so not being allowed to have peanut anything on one is no big deal.

I think their school is reasonable yet protective of these kids. So far no one has had any issues because of the rules.

Some children/adults are so allergic to peanuts that being in the same area as the peanuts will cause an anaphylactic reaction that can result in death. Yes, these people are in the minority but would you want to take a chance when death is the result?

Sometimes one can go for years with a reaction such as you describe but will suddenly and unexpectedly have a more serious reaction requiring hospitalization. If we can avoid peanuts entirely why risk causing someone a serious reaction or possibly death.

The reason for banning peanuts and not seafood for example is because peanuts are so popular for children but seafood isn't. People can be seriously allergic to both and go into shock when simply in the presence of the food.

A rough comparison is that most people can drive safely at 75 mph but studies have shown that the number of accidents seriously increase at speeds over 55-60. Should we not have speed limits even tho having them reduces accidents and deaths?

There are several nut butters that taste as good as peanut butter and can be safely used by nearly every one. (peanuts are not a nut) Nut allergies do not seem to cause difficulties when air borne. I haven't heard of anyone dying from a nut allergy but I have from a peanut allergy.

i am seriously allergic to tomatoes, but i dont ask people to wash their hands after eating tomatoes.. i just ask that they eat tomatoes somewhere..else, so i dont end up in the morgue. just my two cents
K. h.

I'm not in favor of a school-wide ban. I know that may be an offensive comment to someone with a bad allergy, but that's how I feel. My kids took PB&J's for 6 years. I was happy that there was a nut-free table for bake sales, which made total sense, but I do not feel that hundreds or thousands of people should have to have a ban on these products for just a few people.

Dawn

Not everyone has the ability, education, financial stability, or support to home school. That's why. Where do you suggest these kids go? A facility segregated from all other children and opportunities? Guess what, that's illegal. Peanut allergies are protected by the disability act. Where do you suppose the budgets will come from for these "alternative placements?" Public school is a right for children in the United States. We can't start shipping them off to schools with only kids with allergies. That would cost money, that school systems don't have. A tutor free of charge? How will that tutor get paid? With budgets that don't exist? Not to mention, it would be discrimination. I think parents need to suck it up, start teaching their kids to wash their hands (is that not just a give in? Do parents really not teach that?) and give their kids something else to eat besides peanut butter. There are literally thousands of other things in the world to eat. If your child won't, that's a parenting issue. Seriously. A child should not HAVE to eat a peanut butter sandwich everyday, when they literally have entire grocery stores of options at their disposal.

My question for you, Keisha...is do you think it's worth possibly costing a child their life and a parent their child...so your kid can eat a pb&j? Are there not two other meals in the day, where that could be served? What do YOU think should be done with these children? Or, is this really about parents being annoyed that they can't slap together an easy pb&j, because their kids want one?

For some people with allergies, a reaction can be triggered by skin contact or air exposure to the allergen. I have a friend with severe tree nut allergies. She has gotten a severe reaction (as in epi-pen and trip to the hospital) by touching a dry surface that had been cleaned with almond oil. She also had a less severe reaction when she was in a new apartment and the chestnut trees in her neighborhood started dropping nuts. People would step on them and the scent of chestnuts coming through her windows caused wheezing and hives.

As to why parents send kids to school with severe allergies...those kids are entitled to "free and appropriate" public school education just like children without allergies. The kids can't live in a bubble and school is a great way for them to learn age-appropriate ways to protect themselves. I have kids ranging from Kindergarten to 8th grade and the restrictions generally ease up as the kids all get older. Older kids share less and older kids with allergies can be counted on to be more protective of their health and are better equipped to alert other people of the need for help quickly when exposed to an allergen.

Additionally, the idea of home schooling assumes that all families have the luxury of having a parent at home all day, which isn't realistic for most families. My husband and I both work FT and could never home school our kids even if we wanted to. That said, I don't think I would want to do that even if I could.

Really, I don't think it's that big of a deal to ask little kids to not bring the most potent allergens (peanuts and tree nuts) to school. There are many safe alternatives to peanut butter - my kids like to eat Sunbutter, which is a safe alternative to peanut butter. At their school, they can bring in peanut butter but the kids with allergies have to sit at the peanut-free table. Both of my boys have friends with peanut allergies, so they choose to forgo peanut products so that they can eat lunch with their friends. If they do have something with peanut butter for breakfast, I do make sure that they wash their hands before school because I wouldn't want them to pass an allergic kid a pencil while having peanut residue on their fingers, etc.

Severe allergies of all types are more and more common and frankly, everyone needs to adjust to this reality. It's not the fault of someone with a severe allergy that they have the allergy, just like there is nothing that you or I did "right" to "prevent" our kids from having severe food allergies. I really hope that we figure out what the heck is triggering this increase in allergies so that fewer and fewer families will have to deal with this in the future.

I am in a school and can tell you that some have a reaction even just by smelling the allergen. They even have these dogs that are trained to enter the lunch room prior to the child to determine that all allergens are out of the room and cleaned up before the child enters.

It is crazy but I am thankful these parents aren't sheltering their child and trying to function in the world. And you can't understand the desparate measures taken until you see the severity of the reactions.

I have not had to deal with peanut allergies but I am allergic to almonds, bananas, watermelons, and some raw foods, the list goes on and on and on. I carry a bottle of liquid Benadryl with me at all times, or the little poppers where you just twist off the top. I am learning more about them every day.

I have been told that casual contact is considered to be when the nut or allergen is on your body, clothes, or even residue in your mouth that the nut can get on items and therefor be touched by the person who has that sensitive of an allergy. Even breathing the nut smell can set off some allergic reactions.

There are such different kinds of allergies. The one I have is an oral allergy. I eat a raw potato and I itch in my throat for an hour or more. Same with raw onions, banana's, and some fruits. It is related to birch tree pollen from what I can learn.

Some just touch the debris of the allergen and their lives are in danger. Some must ingest it to have a reaction. I don't do any kind of nuts although I should be okay to eat peanuts and some other kinds.

I feel bad for the parents of kids who suffer with allergies so severe. Seriously, who would wish that on even an enemy. BUT they do have the responsibility to protect their child just as I have the right to be my grandchildren's advocate. They should be allowed to eat the foods they want and love just as a child who doesn't like a food to be allowed to not eat it.

__________________________________________

It comes down to this to me. If you "protect" one child from an allergen then you "must" protect all persons from allergens.

SO, let's say I worked at this school. Just for the sake of seeing the other side of this.

Then "I" could claim they cannot serve watermelon, almonds, cantaloupe, well, heck, all melons are on the list but I just have never taken the chance so I want them all banned. Apples and cherries are on the list too. If they are cooked I can eat them so I could insist the school not be allowed to have them in the building in any form except cooked. I have had to ride to the hospital in the back of an ambulance for an allergic reaction to almonds. My throat swelled a lot. I could barely breath.

I reacted to 74 out of 80 things I was tested against for allergies. I reacted so bad to tobacco that my back had a blister about 8" across, it effected the skin reactions so much on my back they had to do them over on my arms and prick the skin for most. Animals, trees, grasses, critters that live in our walls like mice and roaches, molds, fungus, etc....I have proof I am allergic to these.

Therefore anyone who works at the school or visits the school cannot be a smoker or use tobacco in any form. I have doctors proof that they touched my skin with a tobacco residue and they had to give me Epinephrine and Benadryl to save my life.

Lets take out all school pets/animals and all the property must be covered with gravel or some other form of natural cover, because with my allergies grass cannot be allowed. If someone were to even try to mow I would have an asthma attack so grass has to go. Trees too.

Then let's say someone else is allergic to dairy. That takes out the milk and cheese, they might have the tiniest bit of cheese sauce drip onto the serving that child might get.

Then theirs the kid allergic to tomatoes, that takes out ketchup.

And so forth and on and on. Each person can have allergies and they should not be discriminated against either or segregated.

This is my point. At WHAT point do we draw the line? At some point someone somewhere can be found to be allergic to each and every food.

Where is the line drawn? Who says this child's allergy is more important than that child's allergy. You don't turn blue enough so your allergy doesn't count? Your throat only swells halfway shut, you only have an asthma attack, you only get hives and have to take drugs that make you sleepy and rub ointments all over...who determines which allergies are the "right" ones that kids are protected against?

I have allergies. It is my responsibility to know that I might react to a certain food and stay away from it. It is MY job to protect the people I am responsible for. The school has enough issues to deal with from bully's to neglectful parents to kids like my grandson who got sent home by noon today after at least 10 time outs, he's in pre-K by the way.

Schools are a supposed to be a safe place for all kids. Not a place where their choices are ripped away for one child's allergies. Everyone is allergic to something. They may not have had the opportunity to eat it yet but there will be something.

So do we make a huge long list of banned foods? Because if your child gets special treatment to make his environment safer then if my child has an allergy you better be danged sure you make a way for him to be safe too. The lists could be unending and pretty soon everyone is on a pill that is a food supplement made of protein and carbohydrates. Then nothing but water is allowed for drinking.

I feel bad for these parents because there is no way their child will ever be 100% safe against a reaction of some sort. It cannot be done in our world. They have to be living in constant fear. I can't imagine going through what they go through. I think I would have to decide to work in that field and work at their school so that if there was an emergency call something was going on I could grab some life saving equipment out of the fanny pack around my waist and run go do what I could to stop the reaction. I could never not be right there.

I think peanut allergy is an airborne allergy, not a contact-only allergy.
That's why it's different.
And, yes, it can be life threatening.

Our elem. school has not banned peanut butter, etc., but they do have a nut free zone table. Which, really is kind of just lip-service, because of it being an airborne allergen.....

(We're not peanut allergic, btw.)

http://pbskids.org/arthur/parentsteachers/lesson/health/p...

I did a google search of your question regarding touching a surface and found this link. You can cut and paste it.

In any case where a child isn't "typical", whether it's an allergy, deformity, disability, etc. unless you experience it 1st hand you just don't know. I am happy to see questions like this. Getting feedback from Mommas that have children that go through these things (IMO) is sometimes better than any internet search.

Take care.

To me it seems easier to have kids not bring food items with nuts to school and to handsaniize before entering than start trying to have kids with allergies taught at home. If these precautions save lives of children than to me it is a no brainer. My daughter has a severe tree nut and peanut allergy and it is scary as a mom to not know if she will have unexpected contact but I try and just go about living life as normal as possible. Her classroom is nut free and her Sunday school is totally nut free. Please
keep in mind any of our kids can develop an allergy at any time. My
daughter developed hers at age 5. The numbers are rising every year. When it is your baby's life on the line it changes everything. It is a tough
call. Part of me wants to keep my daughter at my side at all times to
monitor everything closely and yet a bigger part of me wants her to life a
full life. I question my decisions sometimes asking myself: should she go
to birthday parties, playmates, be on sports teams where snack are
served, should I home school.....the list is endless. It is not easy!

Peanut allergies take two forms. The really bad one is airborne. Many people with airborne peanut allergies can not be in a school setting, ride a public bus, eat in a restaurant, etc. It's that bad. The more typical person with a peanut allergy has a less severe allergy that is caused by contact, though. The reason why peanut butter is sometimes not allowed and kids have to wash their hands is that peanut oil transmits the protein that causes the allergy. And it's sticky. A child who just had a peanut butter sandwich could easily wipe his not very dirty hand on a chair and an allergic kid could touch it hours later, stick her finger in her mouth with just the tiniest trace of peanut oil on it and have a reaction. This is different than a milk, egg or strawberry allergy where someone's dirty hands wouldn't cause an allergic reaction because the milk or strawberry juice or egg bit would dry up and be basically gone.

To your other point about why not do an in home tutor... It's sort of like the kids with learning disabilities or autism or hearing issues or who are gifted who go to a "regular" school and get special services or an aide. Public schools are for everyone. They accommodate all sorts of differences. Allergies are just one. And I agree with Bug... How hard is it to make another type of sandwich?

I don't have experience with a life threatening allergy, but do have a friend whose daughter is deathly allergic to peanuts. In today's economy, she and her husband both have to work, so their daughter has to go to school. That might be why some kids with severe allergies are in school. I know that the school she attends takes a lot of measures to ensure her safety, but does not offer a home tutor.

Just my thoughts.

We have a child in my son's preschool who has a life-threatening allergy to peanuts, so we've just used almond butter this year. We've actually abandoned peanut butter a long time ago, due to my husband's heartburn.

I think the problem is that there are some children who are deathly allergic to this, but often kids don't recognize symptoms as quickly as adults do. Or they may not understand what's happening, or be confident in getting the teacher's attention until they are in full distress.

An adult, on the other hand, can realize they're in a bind, take the Benadryl or use their EpiPen. When I was a nanny, one of the children I cared for had an EpiPen for nut allergy. We took it everywhere.

The big problem is that kids sometimes share food without the teacher's permission. Younger children don't always have the awareness--and thus, can't be relied on-- to ask the other child "is there nuts in this?" and the other child may not really even know if there are or aren't, or what kind of nuts there are, or if a nut oil was used on the food.

We also have a friend who is allergic to all nuts, and so we try to keep our kitchen nut-free a few days beforehand. I wipe down the cutting board/bread boards and wash them thoroughly before she comes over, so that anything cut on them won't transfer any allergens and make her sick. It's not always convenient, but I love her dearly and would do anything to make sure she doesn't have a terrible time.

Lastly, in regard to homeschooling-- it seems a bit extreme to insist that a child have a life in a bubble and stay home. Do we not take our children anywhere because of their allergies? What a world they would miss out on... I think homeschooling is wonderful if a parent wants to do it and has the temperament for it, but to say that the greater group shouldn't be slightly inconvenienced (and learn a nice lesson about the greater good of the community) would put an enormous burden on parents who genuinely worry about their children. It's a tall order. For parents of children with life-threatening allergies, every day is a game of Trust the World.

kids can have a reaction from just touching where a peanut has been. the oils and dust are just as harmful to them. my friends daughter is allergic to nuts i just take extra precations when we make food/lunches together. i make her jelly sandwhich first before the pbj ones.
there are also children in the school i work at that are allergic to nuts. one kid in my daughters class at this school is allergic to nuts and fish. so every friday we serve him something else for lunch.
i would be ok if my school banned peanut butter due to a childs severe allergy. because for the fact i would want then to take the same care if it was my child.

My daughter and younger son are allergic to peanuts. They have both had life-threatening reactions to these allergens just by touching them. Luckily, they don't seem to have a problem with air exposure to the allergen.

At the elementary school level, my daughter knows what to do in the event of an exposure to allergens. The teachers and school staff also know how to handle this kind of emergency. Her school has not banned peanuts from the lunch room, and I am fine with that. She will have to eat at the "peanut table".

Banning peanuts from school. Okay fine. But expecting kids to brush their teeth and wash their hands before they enter the classroom? How much class time does that take? That's just not practical.

How do they know that the UPS guy that just delivered a package to the office didn't have a bag of peanuts tucked into his pocket? And how do they prevent a kid from coming into the school after he ate a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast and unknowingly got some on his shirt? What about the teacher who had drinks at a bar where they let you throw peanut shells on the floor? I'll bet she will track some of that stuff in with her shoes the next day. What about the kid who brought food that was "processed on equipment shared with peanuts"?

I sympathize with any parent whose child is so sensitive to peanuts that being near peanut dust can trigger a reaction. But I just don't know that the level of sanitation required to completely eliminate peanuts from a school can be achieved to accommodate everyone.

I didn't read through your other answers...somebody has probably already mentioned this...but I know the school that my aunt works at has several children that are severely allergic to peanuts. If another child eats a granola bar with peanuts...and touches a doorknob...and the allergic child touches that same doorknob...she can have an extremely severe and possibly fatal reaction. My daughters school just has a peanut free table and that seems to be sufficient...I'm sure it's not common...but it's out there. I was pretty blown away when I first learned about it too!

From what I've read, it's very rare for a person with a peanut or other food allergy to have a reaction to the substance indirectly, such as in the air or touching it. The substance needs to be consumed in order for the allergic reaction to happen.

Schools are over-reacting to the slight possibility that one child could have peanut butter on his fingers, touch an allergic child's fingers, and that child then put his fingers in his mouth. That's what would have to happen to cause a reaction.

Inhaling something like peanut oil cooking spray would be one way that an allergic reaction could happen through breathing.

http://www.peanutallergy.com/causes.html

I can understand that this is a touchy topic. If my child were allergic, I would be fearful that they might have an allergic reaction. I would also teach my child to be aware of the symptoms of that and to ask for help immediately. I would make sure her teachers/counselors/coaches were aware and had an epi pen available. There are preventative measures to put into place without totally restricting the consumption of peanuts by all children in a class, on a bus, in a school.

Huh. Southwest Airlines still gives out tiny bags of peanuts. Surely if someone just breathed particles in and could die from that they would not do this. Our child's school does not ban peanut butter sandwiches. If someone were that allergic to peanuts, it would be very difficult to go anywhere in life. Do they never ride on certain airlines? Do they never walk into restaurants that have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the menu? How would you even know? I'm going to read the answers you got so I can understand better too.

No major food allergies in our home, so this is from a "regular" parents POV. Kids share a lot of resources at school. I've been in a classroom as a longterm sub for 3 months now, in a middle school. You have no idea how many kids don't have pencils at this time of year. I will "lend" pencils during every single of my 7 class periods daily. Who knows what the students have handled, much less what the injest and then put a pencil in their mouth. It would be SO EASY for food particles to pass on a borrowed pencil.

We are also currently reading a book together as a class. That means we are using a class set of books. Another germ/allergen passing opportunity.

By middle school, most kids have stopped any bad habits, but chewing on pens/pencils is something that adults struggle with, so it happens a lot in ms. I understand the fear, I would be extra vigilant if my child had such an allergy. But, I also think the parents have to do their part and make sure teachers were aware in the case of shared supplies.

There isn't much more that I can add to the responses that are already here the other's have pretty much covered the why's and hows. But Keisha M. I would like to thank you for being compassionate enough to want to understand the plight of a kid/family that deals with peanut allergies. There are so many people who are only concerned that they can't have something that they want for a few hours.

One thing that I didn't see mentioned is that reactions can become more or less severe over time. The first reaction to an allergen may be mild, but the next exposure can be more severe. You never know, so the best thing to do is not expose the person to the allergen at all if it can be helped.

My son is allergic to tree nuts and peanuts. His school has peanut friendly tables set up in their lunch room. It helps but it doesn't completely keep him out of danger. My son has gone to the library at school after lunch and picked up a book that a child who ate a peanut butter sandwich has handled on 2 occasions and had a reaction. In those cases washing hands after lunch would have prevented the reaction.

I'm realistic I realize that for him, danger can be around the corner. He's had a reaction when someone opened a jar of peanuts on the local bus. I know you can't control everything, but I do what I can. We don't fly Southwest if we can help it. But if must, we contact them well in advance so that they can load the plane with other snacks. (If you've ever flown SW and they aren't serving peanuts it's because someone with a peanut allergy is likely on-board and the airline was alerted in advance.) However there are other airlines that don't serve peanuts but we still take precautions when we do fly such as wiping down the tray tables when we board and flying the first flights in the morning after the planes have been cleaned overnight. The airlines are very accommodating.

It's not just what we have to do when we go out that has changed. His allergy caused our family to have to change lots of things we took for granted at home. Before I had my son, I used to eat PB & J sandwiches almost every evening for a snack. Now, I don't even keep peanut butter in the house. No more peanut butter pies, cookies, or milkshakes for my husband. And I keep my jar at work and make sure I wash my hands well be for I head home if I eat any during the day.

When you've got a kid with allergies a lot changes and there are a lot of people who can be mean. I've experienced it firsthand. So I can understand why the person you know can be sensitive. But I'm sure she would really appreciate your effort to understand the issue.

I think forgoing peanuts during school time is a small requirement to ensure the life of a child continues. Where I am all schools are peanut-free. One of my boys loves peanut butter sandwiches. He can have one for his afternoon snack when he gets home.

I just don't get why not having peanuts at school is a problem. If I know I'll be working with someone who has intolerances to chemicals and scents, I'll try to go perfume-free that day, and use a mild soap.

I think children who have, through no fault of their own, developed an allergy, should be allowed the pleasures and pains of school just like all children.

some people have the allergy so bad that if you were to talk to them right after eatting peanuts and they inhaled that breath they could go into anifilaxis. that's how bad they have it. i personally don't think it's right that others have to change what they eat because of one persons allergy. after eatting peanuts they are to brush their teeth as to get the remaining bits out of their mouth and wash their hands. hopefully it's not on their clothes. in my daughters school they have notes on doors warning others of allergies in the room.

i'm glad you posted it too.
the degree to which children get allergies any more often shocks me.
i have a kid with food and seasonal allergies, but not so bad that he can't be near the foods. he just has to not eat them.
i used to homeschool with a mom who was always furious with the world for using scents. her daughter was horribly allergic and basically couldn't go anywhere or do anything. carpets, people, bathroom deodorizers, everything set her off. i felt terrible for them, but could never quite figure out what she expected. the world is full of odors.
the peanut frenzy is yet another reason i could never work in the public school system. how they ever get any teaching done mystifies me.
khairete
S.