Peanut free zone at elementary school
January 8, 2005
http://www.bloggingbaby.com/entry/1234000670026526/#comments

After reading this article it seems to me that the needs of the few outweigh the needs and wants of the many. Why is it that one child who is allergic to peanuts can violate the rights of other children without this allergy. I would think that the school could certainly make special accommodations for this one child perhaps to designate a specific eating area for this child to be sure that nothing that could cause the allergic reaction would be within reach without forcing the other kids in the school to give up a staple of dietary life for young children. I will never understand why parent’s who have a child with special dietary requirements feels they have the right to force their limitations or eating habits on others so as to make the allergic child feel more in line with the mainstream school system. The parents of this child should be held responsible for their own child's dietary needs without trying to push their restrictions on the rest of us. I remember when I was growing up with asthma, my parents were told to be sure that we had an asthma inhaler kept in the nurse's office at all times in case I had an attack. We did not take legal action to stop the school system from having sports because of my weak lungs. And in a like manner I feel that these parents with the special-needs children should do all they can to be sure that some small area of the lunchroom is put aside for children with the special dietary needs without affecting the rest of us.

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First of all, this child had a life threatening allergy. Your child being deprived of peanut butter between the hours of 9-3 is NOT life threatening. I hardly consider peanut consumption a NEED. Balance the right of a public education with your SUPPOSED right to consume peanut butter... Hardly comparable.

Not eating peanut products during school is a fairly easy thing to do... Pretty selfish to have the allergic child treated like a leper just because folks like you refuse to make a small consession.

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By the way...Just as schools have to provide equal access for wheelchair bound children, they should have to provide equal/safe access to allergic children! If the peanut eaters choose to be segregated, thats their choice, the allergic child has no choice!

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Right, the problem with a peanut butter allergy is a person with it doesn't have to just eat the peanut butter to have a life threatening attack, all they have to do is be in contact with something or someone that has been exposed to peanut butter.

So say if one child ate their lunch with peanut butter at a table and used their hands to push in the chair, when the child with the allergy pulls the chair out and then sits to eat his sandwich with his hands, he just exposed himself to peanut butter. All you need is a trace amount.

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Is this new? My wife and I have been looking at preschools for Katherine, and pretty much all of them have a "Peanut Free Zone" sticker on the door. I just assumed it (the PB&J for lunch) was one of those staples from my childhood that my own children would not share, like those activity circles with wheels on them that I used to motor around the house in until too many kids took them for a trip down the cellar stairs.

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This is a relatively new thing, within the past few years.

here is an article from 1999 talking about banning peanuts in schools:

http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/health/peanuts/

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As a parent of a child who is SEVERELY allergic I must say that I totally agree with a complete and total peanut butter ban. Would you want your child to have to be home schooled if this were him? What if you didn't have the resources to do so? If my son smells peanut butter he will have a reaction too that and end up in the hospital. It's not just a matter of designating seperate eating areas. Each child who eats peanut butter sandwiches would need to brush their teeth and wash their hands extremely well after and the table eaten at would have to be scrubbed. Who's going to make sure that that is done? If a child has peanut butter on their hands, touches a desk and then an allergic child touches that desk it will quite likely send an allergic child to the hospital. People need to learn to shou the same amount of concern and respect for the allergic children as they would want shown for their own kids. How guilty would you feel if a child was sent to the hospital all becauseyou packed a peanut butter sandwich? Kids can go without peanut butter for a few hours a day.

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Kim you are NUTS! We cannot make accommodations for all disabilities. What do you do when your child goes to the movies or to the bowling alley or over to a friends house? You act like a responsible parent and protect your child. You teach your child to beware of the dangers. It is totally unrealistic to think that any environment is safe. You are setting your child up for a major problem if you think that by banning all peanut products from a school they will be safe. Life is not fair, and when your child is in such a small minority, less than 2% of all children, how can you possibly expect that the other 98% must change their daily lives for your child? Do what has worked for over 100 years, look out for your child’s safety and teach them to make live saving choices.

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Food allergy are on the rise and if you asked me 10 yrs ago would i be concerned ..i would have said NO butr today haveing a son with severe nut allergy im very concerned and anything to reduce a severly deadly reaction for my son i would make them look at and concider.We are talking life of a child who can possible lose it due to a slip up even contaCT.. WE NEED MORE EDUCATION IN OUR SCHOOLS ON ALLERGYS AND WE WOULD NEVER ALLOW A GUN IN SCHOOL DONT ALLOW MY SONS TRIGGER...THANK YOU ... SUSAN

I also want to add 10 yrs ago i would have been one of the worse offenders i grew up on PP and J sandwiches and in a low income family only after having my child who has a severe allergy to all nuts and being told i needed to educate myself on this issue because there will never be a better advacote for him other than his own mother.. Took me 6 yrs to have my child and believe me i dont want to lose him to anything that could have been prevented so as a parent im asking others to just concider for a few moments if it was your child because in a million years would i have ever guessed id have a child with nut allergys..Im just like you had no worrys until the results came in thanks again susan

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