Hello
There is a petting farm visiting the school at which my DD goes to nursery, tomorrow.
DD has multiple food allergies ( inc some anaphylaxis type ones) and also hayfever and allergies to cats and dogs.
The petting farm apparently bring in hay bales for the kids to sit on and then the animals are brought over to them and they can have a stroke of them. The kids don't handle the animals other than like this.
I have never taken DD to a petting farm before as she always has her fingers either in her mouth or up her nose or near her eyes. At the moment, she is going through a phase of forever playing with her lips which are dry and as a result they often seem quite sore as she either bites or pulls bits of dry skin away.
When the staff mentioned it they did suggest that I could keep her at home that day and that has thrown me. I would like her to be able to see the animals but maybe not handle them. The teacher who I spoke to said this would be fine but I'd imagined little pens which the kids could go up to rather than the animals brought to them.
The other thing is that the permission form states something about the parent helpers taking responsibility of the children rather than the staff so this makes me nervous. I feel nervous because there is one mum who has been a parent helper with baking on quite a few occasions and she didn't seem to know that my DD has allergies. So it worries me for that reason.
Am I being too cautious and too overbearing? I suppose the other thing is if DD did react then she would probably miss the last 2 days of nursery before half term as she always gets diarrhea the day after she has had a reaction.
Just wondering what you would all do. Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any advice.