School nut allergy policy

[PigeonPairinSomerset]

I’m fully prepared to back down on this one but keen to know if anyone supports my view - our school has a nut free policy which I know is common. I am aware how severe these allergies can be in some cases. At our school however , there are children who would only have an allergic reaction if they actually ate food containing nuts. Some of my children’s favourite foods are peanut butter and houmous, which they can’t have in their packed lunches. AIBU to think that the school could just encourage kids not to share food? And for the parents of those affected kids to teach their kids not to eat their friends’ food?! I feel like some really healthy options for my kids are now off the table.

As someone who has a peanut allergy and almost died whilst in class YABU.

I was 14 when I took an anaphylactic shock in class, someone in the class before us had been sitting at my desk eating monkey nuts, the day after Halloween, there were crumbs which I wasn’t aware of what it was and wiped them off the table, I’ve obviously then touched my face, luckily my epipen was administered on time because it took some time to realise what was happening as I hadn’t actually been eating. Baring in mind this was high school so primary schools are worse for this type of thing and primary children touch each other more often too.

Hi everyone. First off, thanks to so many of you sharing your opinions. I genuinely posted this to see how varied they would be and fully prepared to open my mind to a different viewpoint. I think it’s ridiculous when people post these AIBU questions and then just argue their point through the comments despite everything thinking they are, in fact being very unreasonable!!
The summary I’m taking on board from this is to be really, really thankful my kids don’t have allergies and to appreciate that I can’t know the severity of every single allergy within the school. Someone said to think of it as only 5 meals out of 21 in the week which is also a good point. The houmous thing has been mentioned a few times - because it has tahini in it (sesame) it’s also banned. But I like the idea of trying to make my own without tahini. I’ll give that a go.
That the allergy boards don’t advocate nut free environments is an interesting take and I can see how this helps prepare kids for a real world environment.
To any parent of a child with allergies - I’m really sorry if my post came across as entitled or selfish. We are all mired in our own issues, especially when it comes to healthy eating for our kids.

As a parent of a child with a nut allergy who requires epipens, I feel sad that other parents feel that way to be honest. My child is only young and whilst he knows about his allergy it would be easy for his friend to let him try something he was eating, teachers can't watch them constantly when they're eating. How would you feel if a child had a serious reaction due to food you sent to school?

Secondary school aged children will be neater at eating, and allergic secondary aged children better able to mitigate the risks for themselves.

Just imagine the state of a primary school classroom where a few four year olds were given peanut butter.

Ours all eat in the hall/canteen so the same mess and lack of or not of hand washing as at secondary. Infact more risk at secondary as they eat on the field and all sorts so not just in the canteen where there is hand washing facilities.

But if it was YOUR child who could die from nuts would you be so relaxed?

Yes you are right. It is far more important for your kids to be able to eat something they like, even though that could KILL another child to the point school have a policy about not bringing it in.

Have a word with yourself. My child has a nut allergy. The thing he is most at risk from is selfish pricks who ignore requests like this. Your kids can eat hummus and peanut butter at home. They are only at school for part of the day.

It's not the hill to die on is it? What if your child did share food, absolutely not worth it.

Weird that everyone is so keen on the nut ban despite the evidence that it does not work.

We need to be making evidence based decisions here. Relying on hundreds of parents to all avoid packing any nut products is not a good safeguarding approach. These are serious conditions.

How silly are you! You have no idea about the medical issues of all the children in the school! How could you?
In my kids school there is a kid with an airborne nut allergy. The other parents don't know who this kid is, but I do as I know mum. He could die if someone brings in nuts and he breathes in any airborne pollutants.

Do you want that in your conscious?

Well really it’s just 2 parents. Kids don’t have hundreds of parents. Kids have 2 parents.

It’s not unreasonable for schools to assume that those 2 parents know not to pack nuts in their kids lunches.

That the allergy boards don’t advocate nut free environments is an interesting take and I can see how this helps prepare kids for a real world environment.

I agree to an extent. But when you're talking about a school environment that will have children who have only just turned 4, I don't think that teaching them to be responsible about what they eat like they'll have to be in the "real world" really applies.
We protect primary age children from all sorts of things they aren't protected from later on.

To be clear, I'm not saying they shouldn't also be taught to be careful, not share food etc.
I'm just saying you can't rely on it.

Honestly don’t bother. This argument comes up time and time again. There are far too many people who would rather argue against whether nuts should be banned from schools, rather than just not take them in, which would definitely help prevent a small child having a potentially fatal reaction.

I can’t believe people on here expecting 4 year olds to have the amazing ability to always remember not to share food however tempting it looks, rather than just prevent exposure to dangers until they are old enough to appreciate the danger.

Slightly melodramatic.

I think anyone who has allergies quickly starts keeping a mental list of the people they know who do and don't remember to check ingredients (and remember to check for alternative names). And based on experience I think it's very unreasonable to think that whoever is packing lunches for a child (could be mum/dad/grandma/grandad/nanny/sibling etc) would always remember to check for allergens.

Cows milk is the commonest cause of fatal anaphylaxis in children according to the BMJ, but I don't see people fighting for milk free schools. There was a case in the news where a school child died because someone threw cheese at him and I've seen a child have a very serious allergic reaction when someone dropped a bottle of milk and it splashed on him.
Nut allergies need to be taken very seriously but they are not the only dangerous allergen.

www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n251#:~:text=Cow%27s%20milk%20is%20increasingly%20identified,of%20fatal%20anaphylaxis%20in%20children.

Again I think it's because OP isn't staff or the parent of an allergic child. There's a conversation to be had about nut free schools but I don't think "I want to send peanut butter and hummus" is a particularly important viewpoint to consider in that conservation.

Wow. I'm a primary teacher and SO grateful for our nut-free policy.

Have you ever supervised an EYFS / KS1 lunchtime in the school hall? Just the thought of allowing nuts anywhere near our dining hall, in which several pupils with moderate to severe nut allergies enjoy their meals every day, fills me with anxiety, and I really am as chill as they come.

Little children 100% eat each other's food, both accidentally and on purpose. They spill and smear faster than you can wipe up after them, and over my dead body would I concede a 'nut-free table' or similar, to avoid Sam sitting down in a seat previously occupied by a peanut-eater who'd wiped their fingers under the table, causing the front of Sam's jumper or tops of his trousers to pick up traces of peanut.

I think you're massively U for thinking your DC's fondness for peanut butter and humus trumps an allergic child's freedom of movement and access, and the peace of mind of adults who care for allergic children, parents and school staff both.

I’m too tired and lazy to try and work out how to just have a small quote from your long post. What’s pissed me off is your casual, “start to have parents who want their own child’s allergies catered for”. Imagine!! How very dare they.

Also to the OP (who has at least shown some grace on her response) and the other posters on this thread and any other allergy at schools thread: you always say, “teach your children about their allergies”.

We do.

In doing so, we also teach them, from an early age, and even though it’s not intended, that they are different, that they may be considered odd or fussy, that they should not really expect anything in terms of being able to eat outside the home. We teach them to be anxious (I did - I didn’t mean to) BECAUSE IT’S NOT POSSIBLE TO BE RELAXED ABOUT ANAPHYLAXIS.

Exactly !

our old school tried to tell us our dc couldn’t even have peanut butter for breakfast on school days !

You have a very selfish viewpoint. Some children can die from sitting next to someone eating these items. Sometimes an allergy can become more severe over time too and whilst they might have always been ok sitting near someone eating nuts, not they aren’t. They don’t ask people not to share nuts on planes as they share food. Your kids have a lot of time to eat their favourite foods elsewhere

Just because it's your child's favourite food doesn't mean they can't have it at home and there aren't other healthy options available.

How would you feel if this was your child with a life-threatening allergy?

My son has a severe life-threatening allergy to certain nuts and the School is very clear on their policy as he isn't the only one. They are completely nut free and so far it's never been an issue.

It's not just about eating the nuts, it's about the particles being In the air, On their clothing, on their hands which then gets ingested.
My child knows not to share food and not to touch anything he is unsure of.

Being a parent of a child with a severe allergy like this is terrifying and if you know nuts could end up killing someone's child why would you take the risk?

Thank you x

I wonder if you’d be this dismissive if it was your child with an allergy.