Muffins for Moms...But Not Kids with Food Allergies

If there is an event I dislike more than any other at school it has to be "Muffins for Moms" and "Donuts for Dads."

What is supposed to be a fun time for kids and their moms or dads is really anything but "fun" when your kids has food allergies.

Doughnuts can be full of eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, and gluten. So if your kids has an allergy to any of those items there is nothing fun about it.

At Olivia's old elementary school they used to have a "peanut free" box of doughnuts (and since they were from a local bakery that we regularly use for peanut-free birthday cakes I trusted that they were safe).

Today was the first "Muffins for Moms" at her middle school. The doughnuts were from that same local bakery but the school failed to have a "peanut free" box.

I asked the principal if any of the boxes were nut free. I received a blank stare in response. And then I said "if they aren't then Olivia can't eat them, so I wanted to double check with you." [In my head I was thinking "so that we can avoid a potentially bad situation right here in the cafeteria....]

The response: "Oh my gosh. I didn't even think about that. I guess I need to start thinking about that in this day and age, don't I?"

Yes. You do.
Especially since you have many kids in your school with food allergies.

And then she says to Olivia: "You need to remind me about that next time."

No, my sixth grader doesn't need to remind you. As principal your job is to think about ALL of the students, even those with food allergies and then ask for help from a food allergy parent if you need it. I'd be more than happy to help out and offer suggestions.

One of Olivia's friends - also a sixth grader - said "I can't believe they didn't have a safe box of doughnuts! There are SO MANY kids with peanut allergies in this school."

Exactly.

In this day and age with the prevalence of food allergies - peanut allergies especially - every principal needs to think about whether or not the food they are serving at a school event has a safe alternative.

As it is, I made sure Olivia ate breakfast before we went to school but I could still see that look of disappointment on her face. So instead of eating doughnuts we went to the book fair and I bought her two new books.

November

Well we made it through another Halloween.

And for the first time in a long time Olivia came home from trick-or-treating with a HUGE smile on her face.

The last house she and her friends visited was the ONLY OTHER HOUSE in our neighborhood with a teal pumpkin and the homeowner dumped the rest of the nut-free candy into Olivia's pumpkin bucket.

That made her happy.

"Mommy! Mrs. B dumped all her candy into my bucket! How cool is that?!?" 

It's the small things people.

And after witnessing someone making fun of the whole Teal Pumpkin project on Facebook yesterday it was nice to see that some people really do "get it."

Also, this is where the "happy" part of the blog post ends. 

Here's where I get all vent-y about food allergies. Don't post snarky crap on your Facebook page about what color pumpkin you should put out if all your candy is unsafe for kids with food allergies. And don't leave comments on a post like that about how it's "well-established" that people know you hate kids with food allergies.

I don't care if it was meant to be snarky or sarcastic.

There is absolutely NOTHING funny about food allergies. Like ever. So don't try to make fun of them. And if you find yourself wanting to make fun of food allergies substitute another disease for "food allergies" - you know like "well we all know you hate kids with diabetes" or "everyone knows you hate kids with cancer."

See? NOT. FUNNY. AT ALL.

Again, I don't care if you're trying to be snarky or sarcastic - there's a time and place for that and dealing with food allergies isn't that time.

OK...enough ranting.

Here's hoping your kiddos have safe candy to enjoy and that you all had a Happy Halloween!

Up next...Thanksgiving! Gobble gobble!