One Urban Mom

This is What Peanut Allergies Look Like

June 14, 2011 at 9:33 pm Leave a comment

OLG1 is allergic to peanuts. He is not only unable to ingest them, he can’t have contact with them. We recently removed him from a school that didn’t understand how serious the issue is for him. There are some simple things his school could have done that would have protected him. Honoring their no peanut policy would work. Washing tables with soap and water would work. Having a peanut free table would work. There are matters of cleanliness that also keep children with allergies safe: hand-washing, mouth-rinsing, and a no food sharing policy also help keep children safe. These practices can be life-saving for children with severe food allergies, but they are also good practices for all children. Cleanliness can keep children from spreading diseases, colds, viruses, ring-worm and the like. I know that there are parents who protest strict rules that help keep children with allergies safe and would rather children with allergies not attend school at all, but I think the policies parents of children with allergies support are reasonable and that it is unreasonable to deny children with allergies access to quality public education.

The picture below shows what an anaphylactic response to contact with peanuts looks like. I am grateful to God that OLG1 did not ingest peanuts that day, the same swelling in his mouth or throat could have been fatal. I hope that parents who think children with allergies should be excluded from school, can learn to develop compassion. Regardless of their ability to develop such compassion, it is the responsibility of public schools to provide a safe place for children with allergies.

~S

Entry filed under: Allergies, Parenting. Tags: allergies, allergies and school, allergy controversy, allergy policy, peanut allergy.