Shit I accidentally set a marzipan into a nut free school

[FairfaxAikmann]

DS gets a snack box to school as he's autistic and often doesn't eat school dinner.
The box is bigger than I would send otherwise as it's intended to be a makeshift lunch if needed.
In addition to the usual fruits, veg, cheese etc he always hangers a cake type thing - something like a mini roll.

However as it's Christmas we had mini Stollen in the house so I sent that.

I had no idea there was marzipan in the middle! I hate raisins so have never eaten the stuff and DH had taken it out of the packaging and out in the biscuit barrel.

Thankfully the SEN unit is separate and there's no nut allergies there.

But shit, I fucked up.

What's the worst you've fucked up with school stuff?

This is over the top. You don’t kill anything? But ticks can harm people and animals. What about bacteria and viruses? Do you save them too? Have you thought this whole thing through?

When I asked about it in November my consultant said it was being offered to young children only. Maybe just my area or might be an NHS rule, no idea. My nephew is allergic to milk and he's currently seeing specialists, at only 5 he might get offered it. Who knows.

Their plane would get diverted so not clever on their part.

I have had these laughers on the plane, they joked that maybe they will eat the nuts in their bag haha and they did not know I was sitting near them. I put them straight and the smile was surely wiped off their inbred faces.

That made me laugh, yes I understand not a way of life for everyone but yes I have thought about it deeply. Bacteria and viruses are not sentient beings so in my view it’s not harmful to kill them.

And I meant to say I know ticks harm people, hence why I thought about the least harmful option and decided I’d take it to a very remote place. I wasn’t to know how things would turn out! I should have told DH it was in there though.

Then they’ve lost the plot. A five year old, Sam, goes into school with a peanut butter sandwich and sits next to Jack who has a deadly peanut allergy. Do we think this is going to go well?

any child who had an allergy will be trained to read ingredients, to say no to offers of food, etc. as a teenager they’ll know they can’t kiss a random boy/girl without knowing what they’ve eaten. They’ll know they have to be careful. But the idea of sending little kids into an environment where they constantly hold hands/wrestle/slobber on stuff and don’t reliably wash their hands without any protection at all is madness

But nuts aren't the only allergen

My children are far from unique in being severely allergic (anaphylactic) to milk, egg, and some fruits as well as nuts. No school bans cheese sandwiches.

It's idiotic that our PTA proudly declared they would provide snacks for the disco to ensure they are nut free - cue scores of sweaty children opening melty chocolate bars all around my dairy allergic child.

*Milk" is the leading cause of anaphylaxis in children in the UK. We need to get out of the mindset that nuts are the only "scary" allergen.

Agree @InflatableSanta luckily my DS' allergy is not severe as he attended a party at his nut free school last week and managed to eat some pizza and have a reaction to that. He usually knows not to eat pizza but he's only 5 and got over excited. It would be better to give equal precedence to all allergies as schools mistakenly think nuts are the only ones tp bother about.

I agree with you.

It’s fantastic that nut allergies have so much awareness around them now. It is surely helping to save lives.

And separately to that, more needs to be done to increase awareness and make provisions for those with other allergies.

Fortunately for child nut allergy sufferers there are relatively easy sacrifices schools and parents can make to avoid bringing them around children with those allergies - eg no peanut butter sandwiches, no nut bars and no bags of peanuts. (Of course this is not comprehensive and the risk is still incredibly real for the allergic child and their families but it’s something)

unfortunately, for someone such as your daughter, the allergens she reacts to are far more widespread which starts to make it hard to feed other children cheaply, easily or healthily - especially when we remember some children don’t get fed nutritiously at home and rely on the nutrition the receive at school. Of course, this does not outweigh the need to keep your daughter safe from something quite literally life-threatening - it’s just another difficulty thrown into the mix.

Out of interest, does the school take any precautionary measures for her? Such as ensuring all children wash their hands immediately after eating at a minimum for example? And are there any charities who might help provide dairy/free from chocolate and snacks for parties such as the school disco?

It is all a worry one cannot fully comprehend until and unless one has a loved one who has a severe allergen. And with your child having so many it must exacerbate it and make it that much harder to navigate.

You have all my respect for the stress, worry and strategic planning you do for your child to try and keep her life as normal and carefree as possible.

I agree with PP about "allergy privilege" and know nut-free isn't advised, but unfortunately it's school policy.
It was the rule- breaking as much as the allergen that bothered me.

Completely agree. So many times I have had to sit on my hands and refrain from posting "But do you give your kids ice cream in public?" on nut allergy FB groups.

DD had a friend with milk allergy in her reception class... so they were getting their free milk daily.

They taught them strict food protocols. The milk was only drunk at one table. They had to wash hands and face after milk. They were not allowed to share food with anyone.

Is the cadbury chocolate spread not ok 🙈 i used to send it for DS who has ASD. Hes moved on to Jam now

Exactly, all the children climbing over play equipment dripping ice cream. We had to leave parks quite frequently when mine were young

It's double standards. Everyone thinks they can polish their allergy aware halo just by eliminating nuts. So ignorant.

Far better to just teach your children to wash their hands and face before touching things over people might touch, and not muck about with food.