When a Nutter Butter is Public Enemy #1

Back in the mid 1970's, I was in elementary school in Western Massachusetts. Every day at lunch, they had an interesting way of insuring children ate the slop that was set in front of them. They offered us crack on white bread for dessert.

Of course it wasn't really crack, but it was the most silky, gooey, creamy peanut butter I have ever had, stored in huge white drums. If you finished your lunch, you were allowed to go back into the lunch line and get a piece of soft, nutritionally void white bread with a huge dollop of peanut butter slapped across it. We would cradle this bread lovingly in our little hands and eat the open-faced sandwich in tiny bites, savoring every bit of it.

I am very doubtful that this scene takes place in any public schools today.

It's strange how a food as ubiquitous as peanut butter has become Enemy #1 in the Food Allergy Wars. Every preschool my daughter has attended has been "peanut free". Elementary schools have "peanut free tables" where allergic kids can sit and be safe from the humble nut. I feel guilty when, out of desperation, I make a PB&J and bring it into a public space. We eat it huddled together and then afterward I scrub their hands before they touch anything.

And, yet, I understand all too well why this is necessary. Because although peanut butter (Skippy only) is a staple in our home, my oldest daughter, Belly, is allergic to milk. Well, not really milk, but casein which is a protein found in milk.

This means that she cannot have ice cream, yogurt, butter, cheese, Cheetos, pizza, milk chocolate, donuts, Cool Whip or even certain types of cereal, bread, soup, crackers and TV dinners. In some cases, especially when it comes to TV dinners or Cool Whip, this is a good thing. But, when she attends a birthday party, she can't eat the cake. When she goes to the movies, the popcorn is verboten. When the Ice Cream Truck rolls around, I have to quiz the guy on a Push Up Pop's ingredients until the rest of the neighborhood is ready to throw me under the tires.

What about you? Is this topic near and dear to your heart? Or, are you sick of all the rules surrounding what you can or can't pack in your child's lunch box? Please join me as I talk more about this subject with Kristen Chase of Motherhood Uncensored.  I'll be the guest on her weekly online radio show this Wednesday night, July 9th, at 9pm.  If you'd like to call in, I'd love to talk with you and hear your thoughts on this subject.

Just don't feel sorry for Belly. As far as allergies go, hers isn't so bad. As the guy at Whole Foods said as we searched the freezers for dairy-free pizza: "At least she isn't allergic to gluten. Now THAT sucks."

cross posted at Fairly Odd Mother

Comments

[Crystal]

I'm thoroughly sick of it. As a pregnant diabetic with vicious morning sickness, the only cure for which was peanut butter crackers, AND a public school teacher, I had to clear the ONLY food I could eat (or I'd get sick enough to be HOSPITALIZED) by the principal, nurse and send a fucking note home to my parents, none of whom I wanted to share my pregnancy with.

Because I had 5 children in the room with a peanut allergy.

1-I understand the need of washing my hands afterwards, and keeping the food on my desk, which I washed daily.

AND

2-The kids knew that they were allergic and needed to stay away from it.

I'm so freaking over this. The kids eventually need to function in the "real world" where people aren't careful about peanut butter or other food substances. It's not that when I was growing up kids didn't have the allergies, but we didn't let the parents completely overturn every one else's day.

I realize I'm in the minority, and maybe I'll feel differently when my baby is born should she have food allergies, but I doubt I will.

[ellen]

Wow, it's because of the attitude of teachers like you Crystal that parents have to be so vigilant. They obviously can't trust those who should also have the kids' best interest in mind to do the right thing all of the time. Severe food allergies are actually considered "disabilities" under federal law. This means that children with food allergies are entitled (have the right) to receive an education in a safe environment, just like the children without allergies do. On the other hand, though many seem to think so, there exists no right to eat peanut butter when it's going to endanger a child's health. You, as an educator and adult, would rather have the convenience of eating something dangerous at your desk than seeing a child safe from anaphylaxis and possibly death resulting from accidental exposure. Nice.

[Fairly Odd Mother]

To see further discussion on this subject, check out fairlyoddmother.blogspot.com.

[Mom101]

My jaw is on the floor that Crystal is weighing the inconvenience of washing her desk and sending home "fucking notes" against the possibility of a child dying.

I don't wish allergies on her own child. But I do hope that once her baby is born, she'll consider making that maternity leave permanent, sparing students from a teacher who so clearly resents them.

[Amanda]

I'm the mother of a 2 year old with milk/whey/casein allergy.It is such a pain to read every ingredient on everything that comes into the house, or when we are out. However, the alternative, a very sick child, is not OK either. Can't wait for school to start...hopefully they aren't all like crystal above, and are more understanding.