Allergies At School

The school nurse at Woodjie's preschool sent home a detailed instruction sheet for his doctor to fill out. On the envelope, the nurse wrote, "Do we need an epi-pen/benadryl here?"

Which is really sweet. Really. But I only told the school that he is allergic to milk and eggs so that they wouldn't serve them to him. He will live if he has a swig of someone's milk or a bite of egg. Probably not very sanitary to eat other people's food, but not (usually!) deadly.

I feel kinda bad for having told them. Now the entire classroom is milk and egg FREE. They reallly don't have to do that, I told them. Just try not to give the kid a milk carton, yk? The classroom is already peanut FREE for another child. And shellfish FREE for another. So when it's time to pack a snack, I'm left with trying to choose things that 1) I know Woodjie will eat; and 2) don't have those ingredients.

He eats Pop-Tarts, Oreos, lemon pudding, popcorn or chips usually. They must think I stuff the kid with candy all day. Oh, well. His fave snack is cashews, and I can't do that. Granola bars? Nope. PB sandwiches? Nope. You get the picture.

I have no doubt (because this is the special autism classroom) that Woodjie and these other students will be together all through their schooling years unless they withdraw or move or Jenny McCarthy cures 'em. It isn't like there are 50 different classes for these kids. So... he will be eating Oreos for snacks, PopTarts for the main course, and pudding as a "fruit" for his entire school career, I guess.

I don't specially want to see another kid die for my child's food preferences, but we're going to need some help later broadening the choices. I feel bad that the other kids can't have milk with their lunches, but apparently this is a standard procedure when dealing with allergies. *shrug*

How much trouble should other children have to go through to accomodate another child's allergies? I like Darren well enough, but some of the commenters on this post are either into eugenics or have badly represented their own thoughts. What is sad is that Darren is a teacher, and his audience? Mostly teachers.

Just let those kids die. Can you imagine?

Well, as an aside, according to this article bullying children with allergies is quite common. And the bullying happens at the hands of SCHOOL PERSONNEL quite frequently. And how best to bully and torment these kids? Wave the allergen at them and/or brush it against them or put it in their food. Nothing like a little difficulty breathing to give those other kids a hearty laugh! That's fun!

I'm realllly glad my children are not deathly allergic to foods. But neither would I appreciate milk or egg added to their food or rubbed on them for fun. In severely allergic children, it's beyond bullying. It's getting these kids in fear for their lives and sometimes? It's attempted murder if it goes too far in my opinion. I don't know if the law backs me up on that one, but trying to kill someone and attempted murder sorta sound the same to me...

I am going to write a thank you letter to this school nurse. My child's allergies are not severe at all. I am not worried in the least about him. But the preschool is to be commended for making the school a place every child can learn and play and eat their snacks in safety. :)