Tuesday, September 2, 2008

You're allergic to what? get real.

Warning this is a RANT (sarcasm ON)....

Today's was M's first day of preschool. I took the day off today so I could extend my 3 day weekend to 4 days and, to see M off on her first day. Dianna told me that M will not get to take peanut butter & jelly sandwiches to preschool. Apparently, some classmate(s) has a very bad nut allergy in her class. This is not good....PB&J is M's favorite meal. In fact, she could eat PB&J sandwiches EVERY day, if we let her. I can't comprehend this....growing up it was extremely rare to hear of a kid having a nut allergy and, now it is quite common. On the drive home today, after picking up M, Dianna tells that the entire private school where M attends is now peanut free because so many kids have nut allergies. How about this concept.....they put all of these peanut sensitive kids in the same room during lunch? That way the rest of the kids can enjoy their PB&J's. I guess I need to get used to this kind of thinking - another blog I read refers to the concept of the "lowest common denominator." This blog mentioned how society seems to be brought down because of the lowest common denominator. An example mentioned is that we all have to suffer driving on the freeway when the selfish drivers merge at the last possible moment. The PB&J ban is kind of like this and, so is the dumb kid in the class slowing the education process down for the rest of the students.

Maybe I have lack of perspective on the nut allergy issue...but, what are these kids going to do in college? Should state governments build special college campuses that are designated peanut-free zones? What about when it's time for these kids to enter the workforce? Does that employer suddenly have to become a peanut-free work place? Do these same employers designate peanut eating zones near the entrance, where all the peanut loving employees can gather and eat their peanuts, including special receptacles to dispose of their empty peanut packaging?

(sarcasm OFF)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is more important in preschool because kids in preschool smear peanut butter all over their face and hands and then go and touch their friends on their hands and mouth. Very dangerous. In college, kids usually stop doing that.

Anonymous said...

You aren't being sarcastic. An example of sarcasm is a child with a peanut allergy saying, "I just LOVE peanuts!". See, that's sarcasm. What you are doing is posting your own thoughts. But, there's nothing wrong with that. You just don't have a first hand view of the situation. Your questions are normal. I probably had the same ones before my daughter was found to have a peanut allergy. There are no good solutions. However, a perception problem exists between, say a peanut allergy, and a hay fever allergy. This is a life-or-death thing. And no, the PB&J thing is NOT like selfish drivers merging late on the freeway. If the drivers merged earlier, they would not DIE. Like I said, there are no good solutions yet. Work is being done on a medical "cure". In the meantime, my child's life is (sometimes) in your hands. Be kind. Thanks, Richard

Anonymous said...

Well said, Richard. I would encourage you to read MY blog about this issue if you're interested in learning about the other side. I can understand the frustration of parents who don't have to deal with life threatening allergies, and I wish I could be one of them. I just don't see a fair trade off in endangering my child's life to allow your child to eat their favorite snack. http://www.rfak.org/index.php/blog/69-new-handling-stress-fear-and-other-joys-of-motherhood