Mom Demands School Go Peanut-Free For Allergic Child

[gollygee]

461. The nut free school request for my younger daughter

Is to ban peanuts or nuts from any meal before school, so breakfast too.

Although, it is easily accomplished for me. It would be harder if I couldn't give her eggs, as she needs a protein-based breakfast to keep her going.

My only concern is that I don't think banning peanuts and tree nuts actually creates a nut-free environment. They just send home a note asking people to not send in anything with nuts or peanuts, and in my daughter's school's case also asking us not to feed them those foods before them come to school. But kids bring in snacks and pack their own lunches, parents pack lunches, and there's a long list of ingredients that involve nuts. One mom sent a snack to my younger daughter's school that included coconut. She didn't know that was actually a nut. And that one is hard to miss - but there are lots of things to be really careful about. Hundreds of untrained parents and kids can't be trusted to do that.

But my older daughter's school has what I think is a better method. They create actual nut-free zones, areas small enough that they CAN be controlled. The kids don't bring their own snacks to nut-free classrooms. The schools provide them so they can be absolutely sure there are no ingredients that might have peanuts or nuts or related ingredients. There is a section of the cafeteria that is peanut and nut free, and the cafeteria workers are well trained about what is allowed there. If you pack your lunch, the cafeteria workers go through it if you want to sit with an allergic friend, and it might very well be rejected. And then there is a bank of sinks and kids wash their hands before going out to the playground. It seems like a safer way of doing it to me.