To be laughing at this?

[Ilovecaindingle]

My ds12 has just started a new school and has his first science lesson today. We were catching up on his day and he said they had to do an experiment. The experiment was to heat a peanut up to a certain temp and record when it burnt etc. But due to school allergy advice they aren't allowed to use a peanut.
So he used a Wotsit instead!!
Now I am def not laughing regarding allergy advice obviously but what things do kids accept as normal now that didn't occur to us /happen when we went to school?

[bigtapdancingpimp]

I suppose it's a high calorie/high fat equivalent?

It's weird though; I don't remember anyone at school having nut allergies (late 70-s to late 90's) so what has changed?

[bigtapdancingpimp]

70's to 80's I mean

[Hassled]

:o at the Wotsit

I was thinking about the nut allergy thing recently too - when I was at school (70s, early 80s) I can't remember anyone being asthmatic or having a nut or gluten allergy. Maybe I was just oblivious because it didn't directly affect me - but you'd have thought I'd have noticed at some point, wouldn't you? I was quite an observant child and I remember school quite clearly. Now I have one asthmatic DC and one Coeliac DC - would they just have been undiagnosed back then?

[nancy75]

A kid at my school nearly died of a nut allergy, I remember them taking him to hospital in an ambulance from the playground, I am 42 this year

[bigtapdancingpimp]

Makes you wonder doesn't it Hassled ? There was always the 'slightly odd' child back then who'd now be ASD etc but it doesn't explain all the modern-day issues that your children and so many others have these days.

There must be an explanation - microwaves, wifi, food additives?

[ootsideinbacktaefront]

I had asthma in the 70s, i was told i had a wheeze and given cough bottles

[user1484226561]

It's weird though; I don't remember anyone at school having nut allergies (late 70-s to late 90's) so what has changed?

what has changed is basically, these days children tend to survive the first attack, and so you have children in the population walking around alive known to have nut allergies, rather than just dead children in a grave somewhere, possibly with no cause of death ever clarified.

Whatsits are normal substitutes for peanuts in this experiment, and have been for decades

[HarrietSchulenberg]

I've done similar experiments using Wotsits, plain crisps, cream crackers and digestive biscuits. Hardest parts are stopping the kids eating the foodstuffs (they're not bothered about it having been in a lab for weeks) and living with the burnt food stench on my clothes for the rest of the day.

[HarrietSchulenberg]

I've done similar experiments using Wotsits, plain crisps, cream crackers and digestive biscuits. Hardest parts are stopping the kids eating the foodstuffs (they're not bothered about it having been in a lab for weeks) and living with the burnt food stench on my clothes for the rest of the day.

[TheNiffler]

I had asthma and allergies and I'm 50 this year.

I was the weird kid that had to go and have an inhaler before Games, and had to have a packed lunch when there was no packed lunch option at school.

[melj1213]

I remember we used Wotsits for that experiment in Chemistry when I was in year 7 and nobody had an allergy, I think it was just that it was easier and cheaper to use a packet of wotsits than a packet of peanuts, and that was about 15 years ago!

[PerfectlyPosed]

I'm allergic to nuts, not diagnosed properly until I was in my twenties. My mum asked why there are so many more nut allergies these days and they said it was because a lot of the baby products, such as the nipple cream that she would have used, contained peanut oil.

[ihatethecold]

I had asthma at school in the 80's.
Plus diagnosed allergies.
That saying there were only 2 or 3 of us in the year group with an inhaler.

[notsurehowtodothis]

I have this allergy and we did this experiment in school (probably about 1993). I explained to my science teacher I was anaphylactically allergic to nuts. She replied 'You're not getting out of this that easily,' and made me watch wearing goggles and a face mask, arms folded, not touching anything.

This was in the days before epipens and I had to assemble a three-part syringe to administer to myself in the event of an attack......The most frightening moment of my life (up to that point at least).

[ShowMePotatoSalad]

That burnt Wotsit must have fucking stank. Lol

[ToTheCrystalDome]

Best thing for them - bleugh!!

[Araminta99]

I read an article the other day that said peanut allergies have tripled in 10 years. People are being advised now to give peanuts to their children as early as possible to avoid allergies.

Kids are getting much more allergies now because many don't have pets, aren't exposed to a variety of food types (those "picky eaters" who only eat chicken nuggets), and an obsession with cleaning everything and bleaching everything. Its becoming a real problem.

[DontTouchTheMoustache]

There was a documentary not long ago that said there was a link between bacteria in the stomach and allergies. In those with severe allergies they are lacking certain bacteria cultures, these cultures could only acquire below a certain age as babies. With hospitals becoming more advanced and technology for say premmies being better there is far less.exposure to.these bacteria which is why they think there has been a rise. I'm 30, I have asthma and peanut/nut allergies so.I'm quite interested generally.

[TheNiffler]

I'm not so sure about the lack of exposure to dirt and animals being a causal factor. I grew up in a household full of animals, that was far from clean. My DDs grew up in a considerably cleaner environment, but we've always had loads of pets, chickens, etc. Both DDs have allergies, and I have awful brittle asthma, allergies, and anaphylaxis.

I'd say it was genetic, but I'm the only one in my extended family to have allergies, apart from the DDs.

[FastWindow]

Well it does seem that many more children now have many more issues than 30 years ago.

Hands up, if you are in your 40s or more : how many kids in your class do you remember having any issues?

I'll start: one girl was asthmatic, my best friend.

There was one boy who in hindsight was SN. But we didn't really know. We played as kids anyway.

This is as a cross section of 90 kids. In 1982. Would you have these stats now?

[TheNiffler]

I'm 49. Two other girls in my year were asthmatic. All three of us also had eczema and allergies.

[Keeptrudging]

Looking back, we had one with ASD, 2 GDD and I had (have) ADHD - I had the blackboard duster/belt/sitting in the corridor treatment!

[FastWindow]

Asthma seems to go hand in hand with other allergies, doesn't it? Hayfever and dust mites and those, should it not be reclassified really as a lung deficiency in general, ah look at me the expert now :)