Honestly, I've never encountered this but I also haven't been in elementary school for a good... hm... six years?
I think that one reason I find this so baffling is that I've been out of elementary school for 20+ years. Back in the day, there wasn't anything even remotely like these policies, so it was a complete shock to send my own kid to school and discover this new hysteria and the extreme lengths people will demand others go to in order to "protect" their kids.
Like others have said I really don't see what the problem is with having kids with allergies bring their own food.
If I were a parent of a kid with severe allergies, there's no freaking way I'd trust other people, even well meaning ones, to be responsible for making sure my kid doesn't eat the wrong stuff. Not only should it not be their problem, but really, are they going to be as vigilant as they would be with their own kid.
I have a hard enough time herding four people into getting fed, appropriately dressed and into the car so we can show up on time. Usually, I totally forget to bring the snack until the very last minute, and dash into the store on the way to the concert to pick up the treat as we're running late. Would you want someone as distracted as me being in charge of keeping your kid from getting sick?
Something that a lot of people don't understand is that peanuts =/= nuts. Nut allergies are completely different. If its just the former, than almond and hazelnuts work as nice peanut-substitutes in my experience.
I forgot to mention, those are banned as well. They've expanded the policy this year from "peanut-free" to "peanut-free and no tree nuts" school - so it's actually harder to find stuff.
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Re: As I said earlier...
Date: 2009-05-08 11:29 am (UTC)I think that one reason I find this so baffling is that I've been out of elementary school for 20+ years. Back in the day, there wasn't anything even remotely like these policies, so it was a complete shock to send my own kid to school and discover this new hysteria and the extreme lengths people will demand others go to in order to "protect" their kids.
Like others have said I really don't see what the problem is with having kids with allergies bring their own food.
If I were a parent of a kid with severe allergies, there's no freaking way I'd trust other people, even well meaning ones, to be responsible for making sure my kid doesn't eat the wrong stuff. Not only should it not be their problem, but really, are they going to be as vigilant as they would be with their own kid.
I have a hard enough time herding four people into getting fed, appropriately dressed and into the car so we can show up on time. Usually, I totally forget to bring the snack until the very last minute, and dash into the store on the way to the concert to pick up the treat as we're running late. Would you want someone as distracted as me being in charge of keeping your kid from getting sick?
Something that a lot of people don't understand is that peanuts =/= nuts. Nut allergies are completely different. If its just the former, than almond and hazelnuts work as nice peanut-substitutes in my experience.
I forgot to mention, those are banned as well. They've expanded the policy this year from "peanut-free" to "peanut-free and no tree nuts" school - so it's actually harder to find stuff.