Nut Allergies

[springsgardner]

It seems that a lot of people have nut and peanut allergies these days. Many schools and kids' activities ban peanuts and nuts from lunches and snacks brought from home or grocery store. What are your experiences with this? Do you think it's a good idea to ban foods- even foods that MAY CONTAIN NUTS OR PEANUTS from such activities?

My husband was one of the kids growing up who was allergic to nuts. No one changed the rules to keep him safe. He learned how to keep himself safe. I wonder if it's better to help them kids learn how to stay safe or if it is better to have everyone around them keep them safe and hope for the best when they venture out on their own as grown ups.

[ShadeTree]

I don't have any personal experience with this, as I am not allergic to any nuts (at least none that I've come in contact with). I think it's not really a bad thing to keep the potential for an allergic reaction as far away as possible. You want your kids to be safe, so by eliminating (or at least greatly reducing) the threat of a potentially fatal allergic reaction is a good thing. Yeah, I know it probably stinks but if it were my kid that could be exposed to say peanut butter through innocent contact because a child who had a PBJ for lunch and didn't quite get all the peanut butter off their hands before touching the door handle... well, better safe than sorry right?

[quietpal]

I think it's a good idea to eliminate nuts and nut product as kids can be careless and forget to wash their hands or wipe their mouth. Back in the day, I didn't really hear about people being allergic to nuts. I grew up in a household of 7 and none of us are allergic. I now have 3 nieces and a cousin, all allergic to nuts. Even though I'm careful, it can still be a challenge because I like nuts and especially peanut butter.

[Penwoir]

It seems that a lot of people have nut and peanut allergies these days. Many schools and kids' activities ban peanuts and nuts from lunches and snacks brought from home or grocery store. What are your experiences with this? Do you think it's a good idea to ban foods- even foods that MAY CONTAIN NUTS OR PEANUTS from such activities?

My husband was one of the kids growing up who was allergic to nuts. No one changed the rules to keep him safe. He learned how to keep himself safe. I wonder if it's better to help them kids learn how to stay safe or if it is better to have everyone around them keep them safe and hope for the best when they venture out on their own as grown ups.

That's a good point. My youngest son has an allergy to peanuts and has been prescribed with an epi-pen, one of which is kept at school. My son is will educated (he's 7) about avoiding peanuts and also how to administer the epi-pen, however this threat is not just a nuisance, it's life threatening! So he has to be vigilant and other kids at school offer him food out of their lunch boxes and they're only being friendly.  What I was most horried by was that he went to the school office to get his inhaler (he also has asthma) and as he is young, the docs also issued him with a chamber to attach to his inhaler. This helps the young kids by holding the albuterol in the chamber until the little kids are ready to breath it is. Sometimes it even takes two breaths. However I was horrified because in the state of my son being in need of his inhaler, he had to show the office staff how to attach his chamber because they didn't know. This lead me to ask the question "Well do you know how to administer the epi-pen because that's even more pressing". She said she didn't know. I was quite annoyed because the hospital even leave a 'practice' epi-pen (all the action but without the adrenalin and needle) inside the box!

So yes, it is important that the school does their part to stay vigilant, avoid these foods on the school premises because a mistake could mean life of death for some poor child.

Thanks for highlighting this issue.

[countrygirl12]

I don't agree with banning peanut butter from school lunches brought from home.  That seems wrong.  But at the same time I know 2 kids that if they smell peanut butter they can die.  And if my kid were that allergic I would want it banned OR I would home school and keep them home. lol.  You can't ban nuts or peanut butter everywhere.  So I can kind of see it both ways but where does it stop.  Will they ban people who work in fast food from eating peanut butter before they come to work?

[natashaspy]

its not only the nut allergies, it seems that everyone seems to have to make allowances for the few these days.  everything has to be politically correct, no one can do anything without worrying about what will happen.  I really miss the days when you could say/do what you want and if someone didn't like it, they had to learn to live with it, not have to live in fear of every action.

[kewl4reals]

It seems that a lot of people have nut and peanut allergies these days. Many schools and kids' activities ban peanuts and nuts from lunches and snacks brought from home or grocery store. What are your experiences with this? Do you think it's a good idea to ban foods- even foods that MAY CONTAIN NUTS OR PEANUTS from such activities?

My husband was one of the kids growing up who was allergic to nuts. No one changed the rules to keep him safe. He learned how to keep himself safe. I wonder if it's better to help them kids learn how to stay safe or if it is better to have everyone around them keep them safe and hope for the best when they venture out on their own as grown ups.

I am glad im not allergic to nuts   i like pecans

[melissaotto1982]

My daughter just started 4K and this nut things has gone overboard I think. I understand that theyre doing it to protect the kids but it makes it hard to try to send different heathly snacks to school for my daughter.