Saw this on the news today, all over peanuts....unbelievable

[imthatgirl]

Does anyone here live in this district. I am completely blown away by this article
http://www.wftv.com/news/27152881/detail.html

 

[taylor3297]

There was another thread on here talking about the same issue I do believe. Unfortunately, the little girl's allergy to peanuts is really extreme. I am not sure how I would feel if my child had to rinse out their mouth 3 times a day for 10 minutes each time.

At my dd's school there is already a peanut free table and all the kids are required to wash their hands before and after lunch. No peanut products are allowed in the classrooms, just the lunchroom.

It is sad that this child has this allergy. As a parent I would worry everyday about her going to school.

 

[imthatgirl]

It is sad that this child has this allergy. As a parent I would worry everyday about her going to school.

I think as her parent I would just homeschool her. I can't imagine sending my child to somewhere she could die so easily.

I didn't see the other thread, sorry.

 

[marmalade]

The 1st paragraph states that the parents protesting claim that the little girls condition can be hazardous to their childrens health.

hmmm.... washing hands after eating? Hazardous? Rinsing out mouth after eating? Hazardous? I think pediatricians and dentist will be glad to hear that an entire school is practicing such health habits.

These parents are upset because their children are being forced to do something outside of what they feel is normal. A quick handwash and mouth rinse is not going to stop these kids from learning.

 

[connie1042]

I think if it was life or death issue, I would home school my child. I would not want to take the chance. I feel bad for the little one, but It would be my responsibility to keep her safe.

 

[imthatgirl]

The 1st paragraph states that the parents protesting claim that the little girls condition can be hazardous to their childrens health.

hmmm.... washing hands after eating? Hazardous? Rinsing out mouth after eating? Hazardous? I think pediatricians and dentist will be glad to hear that an entire school is practicing such health habits.

These parents are upset because their children are being forced to do something outside of what they feel is normal. A quick handwash and mouth rinse is not going to stop these kids from learning.

It takes about 10 minutes each time. 3 times a day is 30 minutes...how is that not keeping them from learning? Our schools are already pressed for time.

I don't disagree with your first statement, I don't see how it is hazardous to the children's health.....as long as they are using sterile equipment for each individual child's mouth.

 

[marmalade]

I hope this isn't a double post but I just typed out a response and I am not sure where it went.

Do these parents actually have proof that the teachers are teaching less than they normally would. The teachers are not starting the protest because they don't have enough time to teach their lessons, the parents are starting the protest. I think in elementary there is a little wiggle room to fit in time for a hand and mouth wash 3x's a day.

Do I think it is an inconvenience for this school? Yes. Do I think the kids education is being affected tremendously? No.

But I do agree that if this was my child I would not be sending her to public school for fear of what could happend.

 

[tink1969]

In my children's school district, peanut products are completely banned from schools. There are many children with the peanut allergy in our school system. So many peanut free products are available that it is easy to pack school lunches and snacks. Its the 'norm' here.
Frankly, I'm surprised that the school hasn't banned peanut products from the school knowing that there is a child with a severe allergy. I'm sure that the parents who are protesting would feel very differently if it was their child with the allergy.

 

[imthatgirl]

In my children's school district, peanut products are completely banned from schools. There are many children with the peanut allergy in our school system. So many peanut free products are available that it is easy to pack school lunches and snacks. Its the 'norm' here.
Frankly, I'm surprised that the school hasn't banned peanut products from the school knowing that there is a child with a severe allergy. I'm sure that the parents who are protesting would feel very differently if it was their child with the allergy.

I got the impression from the article that the school absolutely is peanut free. they washing the children in an already peanut free environment.

 

[juliebean]

We do have one elementary in our district that bans all peanut products AND products made in plants or restaurants with the potential to be contaminated with peanuts. They have a kindergartener with a similar life threatening allergy. My daughter does not go there, but sometimes her soccer team practices there and we also got the warning notice of things that cannot come into the school. It's a tough list. It really eliminates most granola bars, Dunkin donut holes (which the kids love for birthdays here), a lot of crackers and cookies, along with all homemade cupcakes and cookies. It's difficult to include anything besides fruits, veggies and meats for lunch. This is particularly problematic for vegetarian families, we have quite a lot too. The list is basically what the child with the allergy can eat, and it is very limited. So, I can understand why parents would be upset.

At the same time, I do remember in the 90's, while I was teaching, in a district near Spokane WA of a child who unknowingly ate a cookie with peanuts in it on a fieldtrip, then went into shock on the bus ride back to school. Everyone thought the child was asleep, and ended up dying as a result.

My son's friend is highly allergic to many things - peanuts, seeds, tree nuts, dairy, shellfish, apple and pears - their juices are used in a ton of products, and eggs, which is the hardest to avoid. We took him on vacation with us last spring and it was eye opening as to how hard it is to keep him safe. But, his parents made sure he learned to recognize the symptoms of a rash if someone touched him with a peanut residue on their hands - etc., always had an epipen nearby and he did eat at a peanut free table at school - in elementary. They never insisted that other families had to make adjustments - they always made the adjustments - I imagine that's why these parents are so mad.

I would assume it takes the entire class 10 minutes to clean, not each kid - but there are some dangers in using antibacterials, particularly triclosan. And overwashing does leave a person vulnerable to cracks in their skin that can allow for infection. It's one thing to wash with soap before eating, another if it's antibacterials everywhere and for long periods of time - I wouldn't want that around my child. But, the article doesn't really spell out what is being used and for how long. It is also terrible for our water supply to have all these chemicals going into them in large amounts. It just allows bacteria to select for resistance to these chemicals, in the same way that has happens with antibiotics.

The problem is that if the allergy is considered a disability, which it sounds like it is, then the parents of the child with the allergy are in the right and the other parents will need to find an alternate education for their children if they cannot deal with the rules. I don't agree with it, but that's where our educational system is today.

 

[princessmom29]

It's a tough list. It really eliminates most granola bars, Dunkin donut holes (which the kids love for birthdays here), a lot of crackers and cookies, along with all homemade cupcakes and cookies. It's difficult to include anything besides fruits, veggies and meats for lunch. This is particularly problematic for vegetarian families, we have quite a lot too. The list is basically what the child with the allergy can eat, and it is very limited. So, I can understand why parents would be upset.


They never insisted that other families had to make adjustments - they always made the adjustments - I imagine that's why these parents are so mad.
.

This is the crux of the issue for me. We deal with a LTA to shellfish in an area where they are literally everywhere. WE make the accmodations for our DD, and WE teach her not to eat anything we don't give her, WE make sure she can recognized when she has been exposed by contact and to go to the nurse at school or mom for help. We DON'T ask for "shellfish free schools". It is OUR responsibility NOT everyone else's, and it not fair to ask them to radically change thier children's diet for my DD when she CAN be safe without doing so. The vast majority of allegry children DO NOT need a school enviornmnet completely free of thier allergen to be safe at school, but many parents believe that if their child is allergic to something, that is should immediately be banned form school. WE choose to tach our child to live in the world with her allergy rather than try to eliminate the allergen from her world. I think she is much better prepared to deal with it herself as a teen and adult this way.

 

[imthatgirl]

This is the crux of the issue for me. We deal with a LTA to shellfish in an area where they are literally everywhere. WE make the accmodations for our DD, and WE teach her not to eat anything we don't give her, WE make sure she can recognized when she has been exposed by contact and to go to the nurse at school or mom for help. We DON'T ask for "shellfish free schools". It is OUR responsibility NOT everyone else's, and it not fair to ask them to radically change thier children's diet for my DD when she CAN be safe without doing so. The vast majority of allegry children DO NOT need a school enviornmnet completely free of thier allergen to be safe at school, but many parents believe that if their child is allergic to something, that is should immediately be banned form school. WE choose to tach our child to live in the world with her allergy rather than try to eliminate the allergen from her world. I think she is much better prepared to deal with it herself as a teen and adult this way.

I completely agree...totally and completely, lol. Approximately 12 people a year die from food allergy related issues. 12, thats it. Just 12. now yes I agree thats too many, unfortunately we live in a world where people will die. It sucks, but it happens. The schools are already doing their part. I think the parents need to be making their own arrangements if what the schools are already doing isn't enough.
Kids dying from just being around their allergen isn't typical, nor can it even be considered likely. I would think any parent who has a child with this extremely rare condition would not want to trust hundreds of people they don't know to take this type of precaution. a precaution that the average person doesn't even think about on a daily basis.

Princessmom, as a parent who has a child with a food allergy I would like to ask you......if it were possible that your daughter would die by just being around shell fish...wait not just being around shellfish, but being near someone who was near it in the AM.....would you be sending her to school for 6-7 hours a day?

I think this is what really makes me scratch m,y head about this whole thing.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

This is the crux of the issue for me. We deal with a LTA to shellfish in an area where they are literally everywhere. WE make the accmodations for our DD, and WE teach her not to eat anything we don't give her, WE make sure she can recognized when she has been exposed by contact and to go to the nurse at school or mom for help. We DON'T ask for "shellfish free schools". It is OUR responsibility NOT everyone else's, and it not fair to ask them to radically change thier children's diet for my DD when she CAN be safe without doing so. The vast majority of allegry children DO NOT need a school enviornmnet completely free of thier allergen to be safe at school, but many parents believe that if their child is allergic to something, that is should immediately be banned form school. WE choose to tach our child to live in the world with her allergy rather than try to eliminate the allergen from her world. I think she is much better prepared to deal with it herself as a teen and adult this way.

I can see both sides of the issue, but I think what princessmom29 said is important, this child will have to learn to deal with the issue as she grows up. It's unlikely that her workplace and any other environment that she is in outside of her home will be 100% peanut free. I think at some point she will need to be aware of how to avoid or deal with exposure. As a parent I would be scared to send her to school, I think the parents need to be realistic. Unless she walks around with a sign on her back that says "severe peanut allergy" for the rest of her life she needs to learn to adapt, not expect others to and I don't think this situation is teaching her that.

 

[Barnhill9586]

My DS9 has a fairly severe peanut and tree nut alergy and like others we/he has adjusted. All of the dangers can never be removed and we would never ask others to adjust what they eat to accommodate us.

 

[marmalade]

I completely agree...totally and completely, lol. Approximately 12 people a year die from food allergy related issues. 12, thats it.

Not being a parent of a child with any allergy I am uneducated on the statistics so I looked it up. I found this statement in an article:

Only eleven people died from food allergies in 2005, the last year for which we have data available. More people died from lawnmower accidents. How are these people mowing their lawns?

The article does say that this little girls allergy is severe and only 2% of people who suffer from peanut allergies are as allergic as she is. Where I do believe she needs to learn how to protect herself, she is only in 1st grade and her allergy is more more life threatening than most, and what the school is asking is nothing more than an inconvenience, that may or may not help save a little girls life. I wouldn't want to be one of the parents who fought this and something happens to that little girl.


I wanted to add that if I was a parent of a child with such a severe allergy I would NEVER except the school to accomodate my child in such a way. But if my school implemented this for another child I would have no problem going along with the hand washing and mouth rinsing.

 

[princessmom29]

Princessmom, as a parent who has a child with a food allergy I would like to ask you......if it were possible that your daughter would die by just being around shell fish...wait not just being around shellfish, but being near someone who was near it in the AM.....would you be sending her to school for 6-7 hours a day?

I think this is what really makes me scratch m,y head about this whole thing.

No, I don't think that I would. That being said I don't thin ka lot of people undersatnd just how rare that is. Less than one in one million children with a food allergy have severe enough reaction to contact for it to be life threatening. Life threatening inhalation reactions can occur, but at typically the resoult of a large concentation of allergen particles in the air. For instance a child severely alergic to peanuts in a packaging facility. It is very very highly unlikely for a child to die from contact with a contaminated surface. Typically that kind iof contact results in a skin reaction, and in severe cases, some swelling. DD gets hives, and DH gets hives with localized swelling from contact. The reaction is worse with raw shellfish than cooked. We don't fish with shrimp anymore since I married DH and had DD.

 

[princessmom29]

The article does say that this little girls allergy is severe and only 2% of people who suffer from peanut allergies are as allergic as she is. Where I do believe she needs to learn how to protect herself, she is only in 1st grade and her allergy is more more life threatening than most, and what the school is asking is nothing more than an inconvenience, that may or may not help save a little girls life. I wouldn't want to be one of the parents who fought this and something happens to that little girl.

The problem I have with this idea is that what the school is doing is NOT keeping the girl any safer than a peanut free classroom would. Mouth rinsing, especially in small children actually spreads the allergen around more than not doing so. Also, you cannot "kill" the allergen with antibacterial products, os using them is not going to increase the effectiveness of the clean unless they are used in concentrations great enough to actually break down the protiens in the allergen, Those kinds of cncertarions would be harmful to skin.

 

[DISvirgin1]

unfortunately we live in a world where people will die. It sucks, but it happens.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Somehow we have deluded ourselves into thinking that death isn't inevitable. If we are just a little more careful, cautious, responsilble than bad things won't happen.
Not saying that we should ignore someone's health issue, but I feel strongly about making the world (or school) revolve around one child.

 

[RMulieri]

I feel for the child with the allergy, and I am fine with "no peanuts policy"..BUT if I had to have my child rinse her mouth and wash her hands several times throughout the day, I would be just as angry as some of these parents.Affecting learning and other kids to protect one, ( and these measures may not prevent or protect her anyway since peanut residue is minute and prevalent) is not the answer

 

[kamik86]

I would think if this child really was that bad she wouldn't be able to do anything. I mean if the kids need to rinse their mouths out for fear that they had something with peanuts in it that morning? If not having them do this could cause a reaction couldn't any guest or visitor at the school that had something that morning and happened to meet the child or a parent dropping their children off that the child happens to walk by, etc cause a threat too?