School Parents Want 1st Grader W/ Peanut Allergy Sent Home/Home-Schooled

[Steely Dan]

[video=youtube;rsVViq9rdmo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsVViq9rdmo[/video]

My opinion is that the parents against her public education are teaching their kids that if somebody is different then they should ostracize them. I understand the problem mentioned at the beginning of this thread where a child made a mistake and felt horrible.

This is a major learning experience. Is it a chance to teach children to do all they can to help another person and if they make a mistake how to deal with it, or should it be that inconvenience trumps compassion?

I have a feeling that if one of the complaining parents children had a peanut allergy they wouldn't be protesting against the kid being in their school.

All of these are important lessons for kids to learn, IMO:

Compassion
How to deal with mistakes
How to be thorough.

It's a nightmare on both sides for the kids but I think the overall compassion trumps teaching kids to ostracize others that can inconvenience them. JMO

 

[jjenny]

I realize that under ADA, school has to make accommodations, but these accommodations have to be reasonable. So, how much should the individual with special needs be accommodated? For instance, there are children with a condition which leads to their skin blistering if they are in a sun light. Would you then have the whole class sitting in a dark to accommodate a child with this condition?

 

[LCoastMom]

The school district my kids went to and the school district my SIL teaches in (different counties in So Calif) are both peanut free zones.

My SIL told me they have no kids with a peanut allergy in her school and haven't since the ban into place.

Maybe this family just needs to get out of FL, I think this has been way over done.

 

[BuzzieCat]

If peanuts are allowed at the school, then why did they have a peanut-sniffing dog check it out?

 

[JBean]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsVViq9rdmo

My opinion is that the parents against her public education are teaching their kids that if somebody is different then they should ostracize them. I understand the problem mentioned at the beginning of this thread where a child made a mistake and felt horrible.

This is a major learning experience. Is it a chance to teach children to do all they can to help another person and if they make a mistake how to deal with it, or should it be that inconvenience trumps compassion?

I have a feeling that if one of the complaining parents children had a peanut allergy they wouldn't be protesting against the kid being in their school.

All of these are important lessons for kids to learn, IMO:

Compassion
How to deal with mistakes
How to be thorough.

It's a nightmare on both sides for the kids but I think the overall compassion trumps teaching kids to ostracize others that can inconvenience them. JMO

what Steely said.

 

[JBean]

I realize that under ADA, school has to make accommodations, but these accommodations have to be reasonable. So, how much should the individual with special needs be accommodated? For instance, there are children with a condition which leads to their skin blistering if they are in a sun light. Would you then have the whole class sitting in a dark to accommodate a child with this condition?

My friends have a daughter with XP. I know at one point her school tinted the windows and she stays inside at recess. They have made it possible for her to go to school.

Disneyworld closed down and let the XP kids have it for the night.

The community does moonlight walks where all the fundraising is done at night so that she can participate.

It is heart warming and amazing when people bend over backwards and make these kinds of accomodations for those that are less fortunate.


ETA: hey I can even link it!
http://articles.ocregister.com/2007-11-19/cities/24704734_1_xp-xeroderma-pigmentosum-home-edition

Riley can't go outside during the day without a specially-designed hood and gloves to protect her from the sun. She could suffer third-degree burns in just 10 minutes of being exposed to sunlight.
All the windows of her family's home are tinted with UV-resistant glass, as are most of the windows at Riley's school, Oso Grande Elementary. While the other children go out for recess, Riley - and friends who have to get on a waiting list - stay inside and play

 

[Steely Dan]

My friends have a daughter with XP. I know at one point her school tinted the windows and she stays inside at recess. They have made it possible for her to go to school.

Disneyworld closed down and let the XP kids have it for the night.

The community does moonlight walks where all the fundraising is done at night so that she can participate.

It is heart warming and amazing when people bend over backwards and make these kinds of accomodations for those that are less fortunate.


ETA: hey I can even link it!
http://articles.ocregister.com/2007-11-19/cities/24704734_1_xp-xeroderma-pigmentosum-home-edition

Riley can't go outside during the day without a specially-designed hood and gloves to protect her from the sun. She could suffer third-degree burns in just 10 minutes of being exposed to sunlight.
All the windows of her family's home are tinted with UV-resistant glass, as are most of the windows at Riley's school, Oso Grande Elementary. While the other children go out for recess, Riley - and friends who have to get on a waiting list - stay inside and play

This is a general statement so please no one person be offended because for the most part I have no idea who is Christian and who is not.

It amazes me how a lot of people want this to be a "Christian" nation but seem to have no clue what Jesus was about. I find it exceedingly hard to believe that Jesus would tell that girl to get home schooled and the complaining parents they understand his message very well. JMO

Fortunately, JBeans story above shows that a lot of people do get it. Unfortunately, not enough. The sacrifices that are being asked of these kids are so small it's embarrassing me to be in the same country as these people. Japan has been destroyed. People are homeless, cold, unaware of whether loved ones are alive or dead, needing water and food. In Libya people are being tortured by an evil regime and warplanes are dropping bombs. The people of North Korea are living a hellish existence and it goes on and on. Now these people are up in arms over hand washing. :banghead:

And I'll reiterate another point that really bothers me in a lot of different situations. If one of the complainers had a kid in the same situation they would want their kid in the school and suddenly the people, like them, who are against the kid going to the school would be bad guys.

Before making a big stink like this people should ask themselves, what if it were me on the other side. It's real easy to give an off the cuff; "I'd home school my kid." comment. More questions need to be asked of yourself though.

How? Who would teach them. This is a first grader if both parents have to work who quits to home school?

 

[angeldust]

I am actually very saddened to read some of the comments here.

I have 2 beautiful asthmatic daughters one of which has loads of allergies. dogs, cats, fur, egg not to bad....... piriton usually does the trick However I have just found out my oldest daughter 10 also has a peanut allergy and do you know what, IM TERRIFIED for her.


Is it such an imposition to ask your child not to take nuts to school? really?

This is as frightning for me as a parent as I now have to rethink everything I/we/she does. yes even as much as someone kissing her who has eaten nuts , Can you imagine for a minute how that must be for us? Im scared for her and for us as i love my children with all that I am I want her to live a long and happy life but just for one second walk a mile in my shoes....

All of my friends and family have been brilliant about it theyre just being careful hopefully i will be able to protect my daughter until she is old enough to look after herself but personally I dont know if I will ever EVER have a days piece of mind because of such a LIFE THEATENING ALLERGY, that my daughter didnt ask for.

Not looking for any sympathy just letting you know I suppose.

ETA thank you steely and nore for your input the world needs more people like you

 

[LCoastMom]

This is a general statement so please no one person be offended because for the most part I have no idea who is Christian and who is not.

It amazes me how a lot of people want this to be a "Christian" nation but seem to have no clue what Jesus was about. I find it exceedingly hard to believe that Jesus would tell that girl to get home schooled and the complaining parents they understand his message very well. JMO

Fortunately, JBeans story above shows that a lot of people do get it. Unfortunately, not enough. The sacrifices that are being asked of these kids are so small it's embarrassing me to be in the same country as these people. Japan has been destroyed. People are homeless, cold, unaware of whether loved ones are alive or dead, needing water and food. In Libya people are being tortured by an evil regime and warplanes are dropping bombs. The people of North Korea are living a hellish existence and it goes on and on. Now these people are up in arms over hand washing. :banghead:

And I'll reiterate another point that really bothers me in a lot of different situations. If one of the complainers had a kid in the same situation they would want their kid in the school and suddenly the people, like them, who are against the kid going to the school would be bad guys.

Before making a big stink like this people should ask themselves, what if it were me on the other side. It's real easy to give an off the cuff; "I'd home school my kid." comment. More questions need to be asked of yourself though.

How? Who would teach them. This is a first grader if both parents have to work who quits to home school?

:gthanks: :goodpost: should read great post!

 

[Steely Dan]

I totally understand those who say that this child can't help her condition and that she has the right to attend school and play with others. But the effects of this child being present in open school are far reaching. Her presence forces changes in lifestyle, not only for the children in her class, but also for their families, their out of school friends, ect.

Is it fair to keep the child out of school? Is it fair to ask everyone who comes into contact with this child to change their lives to enable this child to attend?

Tough choices! Guess that is the point here. Her parents have the 'choice' to send her to school. The other children attending that school and their families have no choice about keeping her safe by changing their lives. :waitasec:

In my opinion any descent person would be proactive once they found out about something like this. I live in an apartment building that has about 7 apartments in it. If a new neighbor knocked on the door and informed me that they had a severe peanut allergy and if I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (A fave of mine) the air could go to their apartment and cause them a reaction I'd find out from them everything I needed to do to keep this from happening. I'd give up peanut butter, I'd ask if I should check products for peanut oils, or if peanut M&M's were ok etc. It would be an inconvenience but I'd be happy to accommodate them.

Life is about give and take with other humans. If somebody thinks only about how things affect them and not others then they are missing the boat on human kindness. JMO

My brother is keeping an eye on that, thinking about it for his daughter.

We live near several Five Guys, and if you've ever been to one, you know that you can eat peanuts while waiting in line. People weren't too careful about not dropping the peanut shells and it became something associated with the store. Then a sign appeared saying that a neighborhood child had a peanut allergy and could the patrons please put the peanut shells in the trash and also not take the peanuts to the outside tables. One day I was eating out there with my son when I saw a lady eating the peanuts and throwing the shells on the ground. I pointed out the sign to her and she got mad and yelled, saying she was a nurse and there was no way a peanut shell could kill a child. Another patron at another table chimed in, saying that what if a peanut shell got stuck to the bottom of a shoe and ended up in their home, etc, etc. The lady begrudgingly threw the peanuts away...

Honestly, I do think it's just common human decency to do what you can, considering the minor inconvenience this causes others -- compared to what these people live with on a daily basis.

BBM

She needs to go back to nursing school, or check things on the internet before claiming to be an expert. The vast majority of nurses are great, loving and caring people but I wouldn't want them making decisions about what drugs and dosages I should be on.

I applaud you for taking informed responsibility for your child's health, and not insisting that everyone else do so. I'm not sure the parents in this peanut allergy scenario are doing the same thing - seems to me they expect everyone else to watch out for their child while they insist on the rights they think they have.

This shouldn't be about "rights they think they have" it should be about teaching understanding and helpfulness to children.

This is not meant for you Trident it's a general statement. It seems some here think the kids in her class need to be stripped and scrubbed by teachers before school and before and after lunch. Then the classroom needs be gone over with a flamethrower.

It's not. It's the same thing they did last year and nobody complained. Washing hands and faces is just good hygiene anyway.

It also seems that people are taking this girls allergy to the extreme. If they can serve peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the cafeteria and that doesn't bother her then her allergy isn't the worst but is still bad and a little hand washing and mouth washing is all that has to be done to protect her. Why is that so imposing? JMO

 

[angeldust]

also the problem with a peanut allergy and testing is, that the allergy is so severe and life threatening that the experts are loathe to do any tolerance testing for fear of killing the patient thats how bad a peanut allergy is/or can be.

Steely Dan

what a kind and considerate soul you are. i would love you to be my neighbour. Im not very christian in as much as visiting church but I believe in God and I try to live my life in a christian manner. Im not perfect I dont profess to be, but I would just like to say that when the god lord stated Love thy Neighbour I think he had you in mind.

I just wanted to thank you

 

[bamabeauty]

My son has been in a peanut free class where a child was allergic and we could not send anything containing peanuts for snack or lunch. It changed my shopping habits as my son often ate pb crackers and sandwiches because they were nutritious , filling and cheap. My husband grumbled about it but I just reminded him is was just at school and I am sure we would want people to be excepting if it was our son. In the past they had peanut free tables or class rooms where all the kids with nut allergies had snacks or lunch which i personally think was safer and better but they stopped that because some of the allergy kids parents complained that it was not right for there child to be inconvenienced and isolated but did not seem to mind having everyone else inconvenienced . I do not mean that to sound uncaring and I understand that it is a mild inconvenience when compared to saving someones life but it is an inconvenience non the less. So I never understood the mind set of it not being okay for their kid to have to sit at a differnt table or go to a classroom because it nconvienced them but it is ok to dictate what my child eats. DO you see what I mean? Alot of families do rely on peanut butter as a stable because it is a cheap source of protien and something even the finickiest of kids will usually eat. Our school had no problems with the peanut free table and peanut free snack rooms but the allergy parents did not think it was enough so they tried to make the whole school peanut free but failing to agree to that the school made each classroom with an allergic child peanut free.
On another note my biggest issue with this whole thing is if this child is in fact so very allergic , and I do hope that the school has gotten a doctor's word on this and not just the parents' , then it really does seem that the safest place for her to be is at home wheer it can be assured that she in no way shape or form comes into contact with anything that has come into contact with peanuts or peanut products. My daughter was a month premature and had some breathing problems and asthma and thendeveloped rsv at 3 months . After that she had repeated bronchitis and pneumonia until she was 3.Coming in contact with someone who had something like the flu could have been potentially deadly for her thus during flu season for the 1st 4 years of her life we stayed at home away from everyone. I did what I had to do to keep her well . There is no way in the world I would have sent her off to preschool and trusted other parents not to send sick kids to school or other kids not to sneeze in her face! Thank God by the time she was 5 her immune system improved but had it not I was fully prepared to home school her. I would never ever trust a school full of children and all the people that come in and out of that school with the life of my child and if the allergy is as sever as these parents have made it out to be that is exactly what they are doing!

 

[Steely Dan]

also the problem with a peanut allergy and testing is, that the allergy is so severe and life threatening that the experts are loathe to do any tolerance testing for fear of killing the patient thats how bad a peanut allergy is/or can be.

Steely Dan

what a kind and considerate soul you are. i would love you to be my neighbour. Im not very christian in as much as visiting church but I believe in God and I try to live my life in a christian manner. Im not perfect I dont profess to be, but I would just like to say that when the god lord stated Love thy Neighbour I think he had you in mind.

I just wanted to thank you

Thank you, that's a very nice post. I don't consider myself a Christian because I don't believe Christ was anything more than a prophet. Christ was a very, very wise man in most of the things he taught and my father is a minister so I've learned a lot about his teachings. I am not perfect either and have a lot of sins to account for. I do believe in God but I don't think any organized religion on earth speaks for him.

There are a lot of people in this country who claim to be pious Christians who will have a lot of explaining to do at the pearly gates. I think Christ is saddened that his message of love has been turned into a message of hate by so many "so-called" followers of his. JMO

 

[Melanie]

Speaking as a parent, if my son had a deadly peanut allergy, the last place I would send him is to a public school. I wouldn't think it fair on everyone else to take personal responsibility for MY child -- acceptance or not.

How on earth is an entire school supposed to go peanut free? I would be beside myself with worry anyway and would find other avenues for my son to be social. Even if that meant attending school via SKYPE.

MOO

Mel

 

[angeldust]

thank you Bamabeauty for your postand for the change s you made even to your own shopping habits.

I totally agree with what your saying regards the seating at the lunch hall I myself would be really happy that the table was available and that my daughter was able to use it. I dont feel and Im sure my daughter wouldnt feel alienated from her other friends just because she was at another table. 1. because there are usually others with the allergy who they will be sitting with or 2. they will still be able to speak with others during their lunch. so its a great idea and i would be very happy with this adjustment.

A lot of schools here in scotland are introducing a nut free policy which is great, although i still understand there may be incidents and hopefully they will not be severe. No one seems to be making any fuss at all about .curriculum for excellence in ALL aspects of Education and Positive development for children to become productive ,positive, non judgemental human beings and i think tolerance towards everyone and everything is high on their list. As well as child safety. its a good wee school.

They also actively encourage children to put fruit in their bag for a snack and if they are putting a sweet in limit it to one its not such a bad thing.

Im sorry to hear of your daughters troubles and very happy to hear she has overcame them. I think as parents even if our kids didnt have any health problems we would still worry, but i wouldnt change it forthe world.

 

[Melanie]

I am actually very saddened to read some of the comments here.

I have 2 beautiful asthmatic daughters one of which has loads of allergies. dogs, cats, fur, egg not to bad....... piriton usually does the trick However I have just found out my oldest daughter 10 also has a peanut allergy and do you know what, IM TERRIFIED for her.


Is it such an imposition to ask your child not to take nuts to school? really?

This is as frightning for me as a parent as I now have to rethink everything I/we/she does. yes even as much as someone kissing her who has eaten nuts , Can you imagine for a minute how that must be for us? Im scared for her and for us as i love my children with all that I am I want her to live a long and happy life but just for one second walk a mile in my shoes....

All of my friends and family have been brilliant about it theyre just being careful hopefully i will be able to protect my daughter until she is old enough to look after herself but personally I dont know if I will ever EVER have a days piece of mind because of such a LIFE THEATENING ALLERGY, that my daughter didnt ask for.

Not looking for any sympathy just letting you know I suppose.

ETA thank you steely and nore for your input the world needs more people like you

BBM: I don't think it's a problem at all for the parents to send their kids off to school peanut free. However, once in middle school it's very popular to stop off at the local donut shop on the way to pick up something. I can remind my child, but I can't guarantee that he wont buy or eat anything that isn't peanut free. I would be mortified if something happened because he "forgot" - which he does a LOT of these days.

The school does have a peanut free lunch table, but that's about it. Like I mentioned, if the allergy is that deadly, I would personally not be able to send my child to school. I simply couldn't do it.

MOO

Mel

 

[gitana1]

There is always the possibility that it is was existing policy, but not enforced.

But what I find interesting is that the chief complaint of the parents was that all this washing was intruding on learning time.

So my question would be if the school said we are going to be strictly enforcing our hand washing policy to cut down on germs in the classrooms would the parents be equally as upset over that intrusion on the class time? or is it just because it was for the benefit of this girl and the 3 others with peanut allergies or sensitivities?

Let me tell you, I was a preschool teacher and very strict about hygiene. But the administration thought I was overboard. They never had the kids wash their hands before lunch or before nap. And this was the case at a few other schools I worked at over the years (preschool and daycare). But, I persisted. I made it fun for the kids. After lunch, they would line up and I would put powdered paint and powdered soap in their hands, give them paintbrushes and have them take turns at the sink painting their hands all over. They loved it and had clean hands before nap time. It drove me crazy the lack of concern about hygiene at some of these schools. But my class always had the least colds!

I realize that under ADA, school has to make accommodations, but these accommodations have to be reasonable. So, how much should the individual with special needs be accommodated? For instance, there are children with a condition which leads to their skin blistering if they are in a sun light. Would you then have the whole class sitting in a dark to accommodate a child with this condition?

I think they balance the needs of the individual child vs. the needs of the rest of the student so I don't think your scenario would happen. The district would have to provide a tutor in such a case. It's a balance and there are lawyers who specialize in helping parents negotiate with districts in getting the least restrictive learning environment possible for their special needs child.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsVViq9rdmo

My opinion is that the parents against her public education are teaching their kids that if somebody is different then they should ostracize them. I understand the problem mentioned at the beginning of this thread where a child made a mistake and felt horrible.

This is a major learning experience. Is it a chance to teach children to do all they can to help another person and if they make a mistake how to deal with it, or should it be that inconvenience trumps compassion?

I have a feeling that if one of the complaining parents children had a peanut allergy they wouldn't be protesting against the kid being in their school.

All of these are important lessons for kids to learn, IMO:

Compassion
How to deal with mistakes
How to be thorough.

It's a nightmare on both sides for the kids but I think the overall compassion trumps teaching kids to ostracize others that can inconvenience them. JMO

This is a general statement so please no one person be offended because for the most part I have no idea who is Christian and who is not.

It amazes me how a lot of people want this to be a "Christian" nation but seem to have no clue what Jesus was about. I find it exceedingly hard to believe that Jesus would tell that girl to get home schooled and the complaining parents they understand his message very well. JMO

Fortunately, JBeans story above shows that a lot of people do get it. Unfortunately, not enough. The sacrifices that are being asked of these kids are so small it's embarrassing me to be in the same country as these people. Japan has been destroyed. People are homeless, cold, unaware of whether loved ones are alive or dead, needing water and food. In Libya people are being tortured by an evil regime and warplanes are dropping bombs. The people of North Korea are living a hellish existence and it goes on and on. Now these people are up in arms over hand washing. :banghead:

And I'll reiterate another point that really bothers me in a lot of different situations. If one of the complainers had a kid in the same situation they would want their kid in the school and suddenly the people, like them, who are against the kid going to the school would be bad guys.

Before making a big stink like this people should ask themselves, what if it were me on the other side. It's real easy to give an off the cuff; "I'd home school my kid." comment. More questions need to be asked of yourself though.

How? Who would teach them. This is a first grader if both parents have to work who quits to home school?

Thank you, that's a very nice post. I don't consider myself a Christian because I don't believe Christ was anything more than a prophet. Christ was a very, very wise man in most of the things he taught and my father is a minister so I've learned a lot about his teachings. I am not perfect either and have a lot of sins to account for. I do believe in God but I don't think any organized religion on earth speaks for him.

There are a lot of people in this country who claim to be pious Christians who will have a lot of explaining to do at the pearly gates. I think Christ is saddened that his message of love has been turned into a message of hate by so many "so-called" followers of his. JMO

Steely, this was just what I needed today. Your posts are powerful, compassionate and represent what's best about humanity. I try every day to live as if the rest of my fellow man are people I know, rather than faceless, nameless and unimportant. But it's a daily effort because the best of us can easily slip into complacency or even selfish disregard for others. I decided last week to make a greater effort and I found your words to be such a good reminder. Thank you.

 

[bamabeauty]

I think the washing hands is wonderful and should have been enforced prior to this! I mentioned my daughter in an earlier post. She is a healthy 12 year old now but any respritotry infections even colds still hid her much harder than most kids so I am all for hand washing and always and the 1st to send Kleenex and hand sanitizer when the teacher says they are getting low! I know this protects my child as well as all the others in her class!
If any parents were protesting about having to wash hand that is ludicrous and they should be ashamed! If my children attended that school my concern would be if this child's allergy is in fact sever enough to warrant mouths being washed out and a peanut sniffing dog , that her health would potentaly be in the hands of my child. What if they forgot that morning and had peanut butter for breakfast and set next to the child causing her to go into shock. I do not want that weight on me or my child everyday for 8 hours a day and if I was her parents there is no way in hack I would trust others to hold my child's live in their hands like that especially 32 6 year olds!

 

[angeldust]

Hi MGardner

I totally agree with what your saying. I understand you cant ask your child to stop eating peanuts or if theyre at a shop in middleschool and have say a PJ sandwich for their lunch. Thats his choice, he can have what he likes but, i just wouldnt want him kissing my daughter after lol. (i dont know what age your meant to be in middle school)

I think its great our schools have adopted the no nut policy but I also understand that other kids love nuts and have them at lunch. If they are not taking them back into school with them then thats great works for me. Thats the best they can do and I would personally appreciate that they even make that effort.

I think that sometimes things are taken to the extreme. Im certainly not saying thats what I would expect I think there has to be a little compromise thats all.

I agree if the allergy was so bad that even inhaling of a nut product could cause some people to go into shock you would have to think of alternatives the problem is for allergies that servere there are no alternatives ie special schooling, apart from that imagine having a child that allergic.......it doesnt bear thinking about.


I know where your coming from with the" forgets" my daughter is the same lol when were trying to explain about what changes she has to make to accomodate this nightmare allergy its not good.

Your son would not be to blame its the allergy.


Can you imangine the worry we re going through just now trying to second guess everything its a nightmare for us but we'll get there we dont only have to worry about our children we also have to worry about yours. ie every child around my child i have to worry about ,even though some people have stated why should they have to worry about say" my child" thats my responsibility, I think people like myself are only asking for consideration not total life change.

Not trying to make any enemies here x angela

 

[Charlie09]

Thank you, that's a very nice post. I don't consider myself a Christian because I don't believe Christ was anything more than a prophet. Christ was a very, very wise man in most of the things he taught and my father is a minister so I've learned a lot about his teachings. I am not perfect either and have a lot of sins to account for. I do believe in God but I don't think any organized religion on earth speaks for him.

There are a lot of people in this country who claim to be pious Christians who will have a lot of explaining to do at the pearly gates. I think Christ is saddened that his message of love has been turned into a message of hate by so many "so-called" followers of his. JMO

I always find it interesting that the same people who think Christians shouldn't judge others, judge Christians the harshest, and that even a thread like this turns anti-any one religion.

I can see both sides on this issue - if it were my child that had a life threatening allergy, I just don't think I'd trust other 6 and 7 year olds to be the keeper of my daughter's life. I also think that if the unthinkable were to happen, it's not fair to burn that particular memory in a class full of kids.

I don't know what the answer is, but I think harsh views on either side don't help in this particular situation. It's not a crime to not want to be responsible for someone else's life, it's also not a crime to try to assimilate your kid with other kids.

I do take issue with "well what if both parents work and one doesn't want to quit" fact is maybe one should to take care of their child that they want to see grow into adulthood instead of hoping the school or school children don't make a mistake. Home school options include much more than one parent or the other staying home too - there are charter school choices, and home school co-opts that parents can join for little or no cost.

As a side note my family has tons of allergies, when we were kids the principal called my mom and said "why does Richie not ever cheat with his allergies, and Charlie does?" My mom laughed and said "because Rich gets blinding headaches that knock him out for days, and Charlie's inside elbow itches a little bit, so it's worth it to both of them to cheat or not cheat." I don't think 6 and 7 year olds fully comprehend that it could be life or death...i just think that's too much responsibility to put on them.