Dear NON Food Allergy Families:

Please, parents. Help keep our playgrounds clean! Thank you. --Image via Wikipedia

As I sat and ate lunch with my kids, I have thought of all the times that many unknowing parents have put my children in danger by allowing and not allowing certain things while we’re out and about.  Of course, I don’t expect most people to know or understand the fears I deal with on a daily basis.  However, this blog is about education, among other things, and so I am writing this letter to all the families that don’t have to deal with food allergies and what they can do in public to help protect children with food allergies.

Protecting the Lives of Food Allergic Children

Always remember:  “Food Allergies Kill!”

Don’t allow your children to eat while playing on the playground equipment. Please have them sit on a bench, at a table, or on a blanket while they eat. Do not let them run around with food and please make sure they are cleaned up when they are done.  If they hold my dairy allergic son’s hands and then he rubs his eyes, he could get sick if your child has cheesy leftovers from cheese puffs on his fingers.

When the sign says “No food allowed”, please follow that rule to keep food allergic children safe.

Make sure your children are clean before leaving the house. Make sure they don’t have any food, particularly peanut butter, on their hands, clothing, or faces.

Peanut Butter is particularly messy and potentially deadly to peanut allergic children

Avoid certain foods when going out for snacks. Pack a turkey sandwich instead of a peanut butter sandwich.  Not only are many children severely allergic to peanuts, but peanut butter is particularly messy.  A friendly hug could turn deadly between a child who just ate PB&J and a peanut allergic child.

Be sympathetic and helpful if a parent approaches you with a request because of food allergies, such as “Could you please have your child sit at the picnic tables with his ice cream instead of on the play equipment as he is dripping it on the equipment and my child is severely allergic to milk products?”  – I had to do this once, and I didn’t get a good response. I got a rude response, though most people are well educated and sympathetic enough to gladly comply with such a request.

Remember that the parent of a food allergic child already feels badly because they are asking you to change how you do certain things in order to protect the health and life of their child.  Don’t think they are doing these things to be rude or inconsiderate. They just want the world to be a little safer for their children and are counting on the kindness of other parents to understand that and help out.

Teach your children about the dangers of food allergies, and that bullying or threatening a food allergic child with food he/she is allergic to is not only unacceptable but extremely dangerous to the health and life of their peers.

Think about how you would want your family treated if your child had severe, perhaps deadly, food allergies.

Remember that a stray peanut on the playground looks like a live bomb to a peanut allergic child and his parents. It’s not the harmless snack item you think it is, and sometimes just touching it can send a child to the Emergency Room in need of life saving treatments.

Clean up after yourselves at the playground the best that you can.  Spills and sticky spots are hazardous, and just because it’s outdoors doesn’t mean it needs to stay messy.

If you know that your kids will be playing with a child who has food allergies after a meal, make sure they are cleaned up and try to avoid feeding a food item the child is allergic to to your children.

Be kind and patient. Remember that you may feel inconvenienced for a short time, but try to understand the difficulty that the family of this food allergic child faces daily…every single day is harder than yours because seemingly benign items threaten the lives of their children.  Try to put yourself in their shoes.

Thank you for reading.

Related articles

• Food Allergy Friendly Vacations – A request from a concerned mother (alwayssick.com)
• Peanut Butter Ban in School: Food Allergy Awareness Week (alwayssick.com)
• Food Allergies and Bullying : Threats, Assaults, Attempted Murder (alwayssick.com)