KY - 8th grader put peanut butter in allergic classmate's lunch, Lexington, 2008

[KatK]

Can you name a school that is going to allow a child to have their food fried up at lunchtime so that mom can pack the type of meal your describing? How do you pack cheese, salsa, beans etc into a lunch container for say, an elementary student and expect them to be able to put it together, without it being, oh, Soggy (If fried at home) or congealed in grease etc?

You make it at home, it lasts through the day just fine. It isn't soggy. I used to make 'em for my first (EX) husband's lunch all the time. They aren't congealed in grease either, not if you grill 'em. (ETA: Er, like a grilled cheese sandwich, a lil oil, but not a lot. You do want the tortilla to crisp.) Home made refried beans, mind. (FRESH, that you *JUST* made, then make the...I can't recall what he called 'em, but then you make the "sandwich".) The pinto beans are usually made with salt pork for seasoning.

 

[michelle]

My Point is, that there are other allergic groups, that suffer from some of the same reactions as those allergic to peanuts, when it is Also, a matter of life and death, and those people are expected to adjust, safeguard themselves, educate themselves, limit exposure (IE - Allergic to fragrance? Get away from it etc)

Why is everything expected to change for this ONE group that suffers from allergies (and if you've read the entire thread, there are those here that have those type of allergies themselves or who have children afflicted by life threatening allergies, just to different items, not peanuts) That's all I'm trying to find out - is WHY - this group has so many allowances made that are not made for others?

Umm, I have read the thread and if you did you would know I said that my son is allergic to pollen and his school is gracious enough to accomadate us during the season. I dont know WHY this group has so many allowances, maybe because its something that seems easy to fix, dont eat peanut butter around them I dont know. Like I said my son had a girl in his pre-k with it and we all made sure to NOT bring food with peanuts in it around her, it was no problem for us.

 

[KatK]

<snip>I dont know WHY this group has so many allowances, maybe because its something that seems easy to fix, dont eat peanut butter around them I dont know. Like I said my son had a girl in his pre-k with it and we all made sure to NOT bring food with peanuts in it around her, it was no problem for us.

That is it exactly, it is the most easily (for the School Admin) and directly fixed by just not allowing peanuts/tree nuts.

 

[KatK]

Adding, I have a potato masher, the kind with the metal grill that I use for mashing up the beans to make refried beans. If you do it right, they aren't horribly greasy.

 

[MeoW333]

Our neighbor's son had a severe dairy allergy; and he knew not to touch it since he was 3 years old, and never did. Nor was there a problem with any of his classmates.
In this case, i think that the 13 year old that stuck the peanut crumbs in the other child's lunchbox should be looked at. Did he understand it could be fatal? I'm not sure that a 13 year old would understand the severity of the allergy (most allergies are associated with sneezing, running eyes etc) maybe this specific child couldn't differentiate between a severe allergy and a mild one. We don't know the background of the child; aside from that there was never any problems between the two. If there was prior problems, then maybe he would have done it for malevolent reasons. We would need to know more back ground on the boy, does he have a history of problems? Thankfully the child didn't eat the crumbs.

Is anyone working on a vaccine or something of the sort to prevent these fatal allergies?

 

[Linda7NJ]

Then what if the allergic child is touched by another child that ate peanut butter at lunch? It could cause the same reaction as if she/he had ingested the PB.

Also, an Epi pen doesn't always save your life. It's simply a middle-man of sorts to get you to the hospital without dying when you have a severe, life threatening allergy such as this.

We should be tolerable of others and make small sacrifices so that anyone who is "different" isn't excluded from daily activities such as going to school.

We are not a tolerable society at all.

How is a child with a peanut allergy going to learn to function in the real world? The world is not going to ban peanuts and wipe them off the face of the planet. Education is all about teaching a child...if the child is too young...then the parents of that child need to be responsible.

Do parents of children with peanut allergies never take them out of the house for fear they may inadvertently bump into or touch someone that may have ate peanut butter or a handful of Planters? Don't think so.

 

[Linda7NJ]

Newmom, We also give to St. Jude so thank you for having that on your "name thingy". St. Jude does amazing things and is a blessing to many many families.

As for the food allergies, yes, I believe if a CHILD is that allergic to something that it could cause death in a matter of seconds, then that child should be protected, by his/her parents, not the school systems and overworked teachers.
Other people should not have to change their lives and their diets because of ONE or TWO children in the entire school district is allergic to it. That is crazy and it seems so very selfish of the parents to put that huge burden on the entire school.

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[KatK]

<snip>
Is anyone working on a vaccine or something of the sort to prevent these fatal allergies?

Vaccine? It isn't a disease. It is the immune system gone awry, just like any other allergy. But, the problem is, they CANNOT de-senstize a person from a food allergy. They can do so with things like pollen, but *NOT* a food allergy. Because every time the person ingests a bit of what they are allergic to, it causes their body's immune system to "hate" it more, the reaction each time is more and more hostile to the "invader".

 

[MeoW333]

I apologize for my ignorance; i was trying to think of a preventative for the allergy and vaccine was the closest i came up with.
Maybe if they can figure out what causes the allergy.. is it genetic? Just thinking along the lines of science.. they have made some great breakthroughs thus far.
Allergies are no fun for anyone; especially when fatal.

 

[KatK]

I apologize for my ignorance; i was trying to think of a preventative for the allergy and vaccine was the closest i came up with.
Maybe if they can figure out what causes the allergy.. is it genetic? Just thinking along the lines of science.. they have made some great breakthroughs thus far.
Allergies are no fun for anyone; especially when fatal.

It does seem to have a genetic component. The scary thing is, people can develop a food allergy AT ANY TIME. Adults, who have never, ever had a problem with a food before, can be rushed to the ER from a bad reaction and nearly die.

 

[JBean]

These threads always shock me. I will never get used to so many people not being inspired in some way to help even one less fortunate.
I would have welcomed the opportunity to teach my children about many doing something for one child.

This is peanut butter for gosh sakes.Serve it for dinner if it is that important to your child's well being.
hmm pb or life? pb or life? I just can't decide.

 

[TaylorJ4]

My daughter has celiac sprue, which means she is intolerant to gluten. I use "intolerant" rather than "allergic" because there is a difference. She will not have an immediate, life-threatening reaction if exposed to gluten, but it will cause severe GI distress and permanent bowel damage.

She attended public schools (her choice-we homeschool the others) and I sent her food and got permission for her to use a microwave in one of the teacher's classrooms. The school was obligated to provide her with a gluten-free lunch, but because cross-contamination can happen so easily I chose to send her lunch (besides, what we packed was always better than school lunch!)

Her big fear was being labeled "weird". When she was younger it was easier to know when snacks were being brought in, etc. and send something special for her-as she got older and entered high school it was harder. Pizza parties, cookies, cake, etc-she had to pass on them, AND explain why. She rarely encountered anyone who made negative comments or tried to push her to eat things she couldn't. Only once did I have to "educate" a teacher who made a comment about people "pretending" to have food allergies <sigh>.

But if some kid sprinkled bread crumbs in her lunch? I would go BALLISTIC and would expect the school to, as well! An 8th grader knows EXACTLY what he is doing, and to me that is no different that putting poison in someone's food....

Shannon

 

[MeoW333]

My grandfather (rest his soul) had an allergy to shellfish and had to avoid it at all costs as it was fatal.

I still question whether or not the 13 year who put the peanut crumbs knew the severity of it. It seems most cases children are understanding of others' allergies. This one boy stuck crumbs in the other's lunchbox. Why did he do this? Depending on how his mental ability -status (words eluding me tonight) the boy either didn't realize how serious it could be; or he did it with bad intentions.

 

[michelle]

These threads always shock me. I will never get used to so many people not being inspired in some way to help even one less fortunate.
I would have welcomed the opportunity to teach my children about many doing something for one child.

This is peanut butter for gosh sakes.Serve it for dinner if it is that important to your child's well being.
hmm pb or life? pb or life? I just can't decide.

Gee, Thank you JBean :clap: . I feel the same way, a life is way more important than food to me!

 

[kygal]

I would guess that the 13 year old knew SOMETHING would happen, perhaps not fatal, and wanted to see just what it was. Heck, this could have spurred from the hallway gossip and none of the adults knew about it. I had that happen more than once teaching in a mixed middle/high school -- a fight or something out of the blue just because "so-and-so said ..." Dunno, but anything is possible. I don't know about felony charges, but in this state they pretty much make anything that happens at school a felony so there you go.

We HAD a little girl in DD's class that was allergic to peanuts. AT the beginning of the year they sent a letter asking parents not to send anything with them in due to her allergy. Well, I didn't as I've got allergies (to pineapples and coconuts) and know better. The second or third day of school there were about 10 parents (nearly half of her pre-k class) really just up in arms about not allowing their kids to bring peanut butter. Eventually the parents pulled the girl out because the parents kept sending them in.

In recent weeks my DD has developed an allergy to chocolate -- exactly what KatK is talking about with the GI Anaphalxis (sp?). The last time she ate it she ended up in the ER and in the hospital overnight. After her 504 papers were filled out they again sent letters home asking for no chocolate (even though I didn't ask them too). Well, now they're throwing a fit there. I mean, really, she's already not allowed to have anything but water with her food at breakfast and lunch, and NO snacks at all -- because the parents are responsible for them and the one thing they all bring is chocolate cakes and chocolate milk. At the Easter party we ended up keeping her home because we just knew what would happen. She cried all day because she loves going to school. IT'S NOT THE KIDS MOST OF THE TIME -- IT'S THE PARENTS!

 

[michelle]

I
We HAD a little girl in DD's class that was allergic to peanuts. AT the beginning of the year they sent a letter asking parents not to send anything with them in due to her allergy. Well, I didn't as I've got allergies (to pineapples and coconuts) and know better. The second or third day of school there were about 10 parents (nearly half of her pre-k class) really just up in arms about not allowing their kids to bring peanut butter. Eventually the parents pulled the girl out because the parents kept sending them in.

Real nice people huh? If it was their kid they would not like it.

 

[kygal]

Real nice people huh? If it was their kid they would not like it.

It wouldn't be so bad but some at the school think it's a joke too. The secretary read the papers (which I was NOT happy about but she has to file them) and LAUGHED at us. "No one CAN be allergic to chocolate. It's just not possible. If she doesn't like it she doesn't have to eat it..." I then told her the paper she was reading says that she was diagnosed by a DOCTOR specializing in this stuff and she is indeed allergic.

I kind of expected it as no one believed me about my allergies either until someone put some coconut in a cake at school (of course parent brought) and I turned blue. I was in the hospital for three days after that.

 

[mmmbrownies]

Well, peanut butter - as well as being a good, and economical source of protein, it's also mighty tasty. I don't know about the jelly part so much, little too sweet for me. My daughter craves it, and is angry when I don't bring it home from the store, or when I touch the jar, or look at it I didn't fully understand it but since they're developing physically, and peanut butter is absorbed easily it makes alot of sense. I know when I'm making regular trips to the gym her and I will rock 3 large jars of Jif.

At 13, the boy knew something would happen, and probably wanted to see what it was. Sad, but that state of mind at that age is reckless.

 

[Linda7NJ]

These threads always shock me. I will never get used to so many people not being inspired in some way to help even one less fortunate.
I would have welcomed the opportunity to teach my children about many doing something for one child.

This is peanut butter for gosh sakes.Serve it for dinner if it is that important to your child's well being.
hmm pb or life? pb or life? I just can't decide.

For the record, my son attends a very small private school and there is a child that does have a severe peanut allergy ...as well as many other allergies. I did take the opportunity to teach my child about the seriousness, dangers and hardships this child will face. I do NOT send him to school with anything that contains peanuts peanut oil, or any other nut or the possibility of.

His school did not ban anything, simply explained the situation and asked all the parents before he was enrolled if it would be a problem. It was worked out for the two parents that felt their own children would DIE without peanut butter...they can continue to eat it in a separate area.

I simply have a problem with people demanding they be accommodated. I compare it to a child with a disability. If a child can't walk and is bound to a wheelchair ..of course accomodations will need to be made to allow access for the handicapped child. No one asks all of the other children to give up walking, gym, climbing stairs.

 

[SewingDeb]

Sewing Deb, I've read the same thing, about peanut oil being safe, and I questioned it, too.

I'm going to do a little research because my pediatrician said to be very careful that there is no peanut oil in any vegetable oil I buy.