Home Featured Content Article Archive Directors' Choice Awards About Us Activities & Curriculum Arts & Crafts Teacher Quicksource Sharing Boards: What Do YOU Think? NEWSlink Current National News Conference Calendar Blog State Licensing Requirements Stay Connected! Each month we'll send you an email filled with articles and ideas for your classroom. Subscribe Now Date: 8/11/2006 11:54:00 AM Author: Darla Subject: Nut Allergies After reading every post about this subject, I have some comments on the issue of nut allergies. Many years ago I had my first experience with nut allergies. I was one of three teachers in a preschool classroom with a child who was allergic to nuts. Our classrooms were in a church setting, and were used by the school, community groups, Sunday school, and for church committee meetings. Therefore, even if we were to keep the rooms nut-free duirng school hours, we could not prevent the many people who had access to these rooms from bringing nut items into the space. After talking to mom, we came up with several procedures that would protect the health of the child, and the rights of all the people who would use the rooms. First and foremost, the CHILD knew of the severity of his allergy, and was told by his parents to NEVER eat anything given to him by another child, just in case any nut residue was on anything that may have touched the food. We had a peanut-free table for lunch, and any child could sit there after we checked the contents of their lunch box. All tables before class and before and after eating were washed with a bleach solution, a procedure that we would have followed anyhow. Class snacks were nut free, (cheese, grapes, apple slices) but the child brought his own snacks to eat througout the day just for protection. We did not ban birthday treats, nor did the child's parents ask us to. Instead, a box of nut-free treats, provided by the parents, were kept in the room for those birthday occasions. For three years, everyone felt comfortable with the procedures, and happily, the child's health was protected. Nobody was asked to abandon any of their eating habits, parties were not banned, and the children in the classroom understood that they could not give food to this student because it could make him sick. Most importantly, the parents of the child were willing to take responsibility for their child's health issue, and did not ask us as a school to revise our celebrations or popular lunches. I understand the resentment that many parents feel when they receive a letter that is banning birthday celebrations, peanut butter sandwiches and nuts of any kind because of the nut allergies of even one child. However, many of these policies stem from fear of litigation, and/or from teachers and staff who are reluctant to make adaptations and accomodations for the health needs of a student, and not because of the demands of the family. Name: Email: Subject

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