I awoke with the sun peeking in through the curtains, warming my face and awakening my sleep filled eyes. I stretch, yawn, peel myself out of my overly thread counted sheets (which is quite possibly the most difficult task to date), and I immediately reach for my phone. I've got to google some things right away and walking downstairs to the laptop or desktop to do so (without first having had my coffee) seems highly unlikely. Amen for smartphones, am I right?!
I had a dream about peanut allergies. My son was highly allergic and I had to do my research to the fullest to figure out the best solution. However, in reality this is not a dream, it's a nightmare we are faced with everyday and the victim is not my son but a classmate in his Kindergarten class.
The boy with the allergy is very sweet. He is taller than the rest of the class and upon meeting his father at the classroom Halloween party this last October, it makes sense. His father was dressed as Darth Vader, he as a storm trooper, his beautiful mother as a witch. His mother later informed me that she dresses as a witch every year, just changes things up a bit. She is anything but that character in her daily life. She volunteers at the school on a regular basis and is always there in the classroom, making sure her peanut allergic child does not come into contact with ANY peanut, peanut oil, peanut product, peanut this, peanut that, peanut peanut peanut or any other product that could have come into contact with any of the above mentioned peanut items. It's exhausting blogging about it, I can't imagine living the reality of it minute by minute, day by grueling peanut filled day.
My son's school had their Christmas program yesterday. Quite early this year if you ask me but nobody asked me so we attended as usual with little complaint. The classes had 2 performances of the show stopper to be able to please their parents and accomodate our hectic schedules.
...((BTW... what has changed since I was a school girl? Our programs were in the evenings. You had time to get out of school, go home to meet your parents returning from work and eat a good dinner, get all dressed up, and back to the school for the presentation. It was usually snowing and blowing, wind howling, taffeta dress drifting away in the cold breeze, a Charlotte Hornets bomber jacket zipped up the chin, hood on and pulled snug around the entire face as to only allow for eyeballs and red nose to be exposed, completely clashing with the flats I had chosen to slip on carefully over my sweater knitted tights. It was always terrible weather it seemed whenever we had to make that return to school for any function in the evening. But now?! any event taking place is during the school errr...work day! I assume they can't afford to pay the staff to assist with anything extra in the evenings and this is the reason for it. I can't imagine having an actual 9-5 job, answering to someone about my never ending list of events that I need to take time off for, as to not miss out on the childhood of my children. I'm not sure how working fulltime would fit into my busy schedule anyhow. I'm busy as a bee as it is. Could you imagine me being behind a desk 8 hours a day? Phew! Exhausted just thinking about it! I am truly blessed!!! That's for certain!))
Back to the program indeed! My husband and I approach my son after the show (the 9:30 am showing) and take some pictures, and give and receive hugs and kisses all around. My son asks me to come for lunch and without further hesitation, decided with my husband we could make it work and wah-lah! there I am at the Kindergarten lunch table (placed in the middle of the hallway since the auditorium/gymnasiam/lunchroom is occupied by chairs set up for the program).
A certain mother is carefully picking through all the cold lunches in the class (including my son's) to confiscate anything that may be made of peanuts or had come into contact with peanuts. I find this a bit ridiculous. Who says my son's lunch needs to be gone through? We know what's in there and the likeliness of almost everything in that Transformers zipped pouch of my sons either is OR has peanut traces ALLLL over it!
So... I am sitting, eating my Little King that I had picked up on the rush, next to my son and the rest of the Kindergarten clan. The peanut allergy kid is ALLLL the way at the other end of the table, by himself (and his mother), a huge sign taped to the table explaining that THIS side of the table is for PEANUT FREE PRODUCTS and if given permission by the little boy (and his mother) after carefully having your belongings gone through, inspected, hands sanitized, whom can you sit on that table with the PA boy. It's like the only thing NOT needed is a rubber glove inspection like they do in the airport security gates. Again, do we really need to have TSA style workers up in here?
Ok...so I am sitting there, the principal of the school approaches me (smile upon her face) and asks if I got the message she sent home with my son about the peanuts. I stated that I had. This was the message I receieved from Jaxon. "Mom, school lady says no peanuts because they are too messy!" Understandable. I have a 5 year old shelling peanuts and tossing the discards on the floor as if it were a bar and pitchers of beer are a flowin' and cowboy boots and hats are a swiming' and are of normal attire. But, that is half the fun of eating peanuts, right?!
So I confirm that I got the message and that is why today we packed pistachios, with a great big smile upon my face. She leans in closely (as if a secret is being whispered into my ear that will unlock the mystery gate and lead me to a labyrinth filled with perfectly trimmed rose bushes and pots of gold at every corner so I can live a life I have only dreamed of) and says, "Well, with the peanut allergy we have, it's a concern for the products your pack in your son's lunch." Imagine the look upon my face as I am cracking open pistachios and tossing them into my mouth, only to take the shell, add perfect form to my right arm before aiming and making it directly into the trash can beside her. SLAM DUNK! The victory is mine!!!! Muahahahahaha! I continue receiving my high fives from all the approving Kindergarteners in my direct vacinity and look up once again..."I'm sorry! You were saying?...something about a peanut allergy? Thanks for your concern but neither me nor my son have such an allergy"....I trail off.. so we fully enjoy our soynuts, pistachios, peanuts, almonds, peaches (in the almond family) quite thoroughly. THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I smiled politely, I leaned in (apparently that's what we do because the peanut allergy must be some kind of a big secret here) and reply, "I take great pride in providing my son with a healthy and nutritious, yet tasty and delicious lunch every single day given the contraversy behind the school lunch program and judging my the instant mashed potatoes placed upon the styrofoam trays by an ice cream scooper no doubt, and slathered in what appears to be a gravy with chunks of "turkey" (and I used my quotation fingers while talking) and a cranberry sauce that needs to be cut with a knife to get through- in yet another styrofoam cup, sitting alongside the Trix style yogurt which I am certain on the label on the back reads: Ingredients: Sugar, yellow #5, blue #7, I think Whole Grain Triscuits, a bit of a meat and cheese sliced nicely for convenient Triscuit sandwich building, Holiday grapes (tis the season), a greek yogurt with no added artificial flavors or coloring, and some pistachios is really hitting all the food groups there (aside from a veggie and judging by the trays of school food next to me-doesn't appear to be on the menu for today for the other kids either). So...you were saying?" She continues by trying to add that PA boy... (I stopped listening) I am know fully enthralled in a pistachio eating frenzy and having a good time doing so with my new Kindergarten friends.
Am I wrong?! Every morning I provide my son with vitamins and minerals essential for brain and muscle development, along with his breakfast and he washes it all down with plenty of water. I make certain his lunch is packed with food that will assist with getting him through the day, providing him with energy (NUTS ARE AN EXCELLENT SOURCE OF ENERGY) http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/peanuts.html "Peanuts are rich in energy and contain many health benefiting nutrients, minerals, antioxidants and vitamins that are essential for optimum health" Hmmm...since when is this a BAD thing?
I understand this child has a peanut allergy but shall my child have to suffer because of it? My son has allergies to dogs and mold. Does that mean I shield him from everything that comes into contact with either of those things? Penicillin is given to my son almost every time we make a doctors visit and it is derived from mold, yet he's allergic. Hmmmm....We shield our children from far too much as it is. Hand sanitizer graces the walls and desks of every public place and public space since what?! 9/11?...terrorists have germs. We get the point!
My question is this:
Today there are specific tables for these PA kids in the lunch room. Before leaving your place at the table, you take a hand sanitizing wipe and you thoroughly wipe between all the fingers, palms, under the fingernails, (there is even a song they sing to be certain the kids get the concept), all the way up to your elbow before being excused to wash your hands in the wash room with the industrial strength soap (probably hibiclens- the same soap they make you wash with before heading into surgery) and then and ONLY then are you prepared to go back to class and come into contact with PA boy.
...WHY ONLY NOW?...Never did such a thing exist in my school. We all sat together, trading our items for other items with classmates at our table, tossing the food down the long narrow isle made feasible by the trays being aligned on both sides, only to have it tossed back and intercepted by one of the boys and inhaled before negotiations could even take place. We all patted each other on the back, played Miss Mary Mack while clapping our hands together with ourselves, on our knees and then slapping our partners hands along to the beat of the song we were singing, being excused to go to recess and and play on the monkey bars, residue from our lunch still present on our palms, making the bars slippery and sliding off while laughing and playing. Having a great time being a kid!
Here is a concept:
"A 2009 Duke University study in which severely peanut allergic children were given small amounts of peanut in increasing amounts to develop immunity, garnered substantial press coverage. A similar Cambridge University study started their subjects on peanut flour and worked their way up to peanuts. Both of these studies reported successful results" http://www.peanutallergy.com/treatment.html
or http://www.peanutallergy.com/news/peanut-allergy-news/cure-for-peanut-allergy
When flu seaons approaches we all rush out to get vaccinated, being given a small strand of the virus to build our immune system up as to not get the fully blown sickness and be down for the count. Everybody knows that!
When preparing for war, these soldiers are vaccinated with such things we don't even want to discuss as to build their immune system up as to not get the fully blown not up for discussion stuff blowing about over there... are you catching my drift?
Perhaps instead of shielding these youngsters, we should be figuring out a solution that makes this world a safer, more fun, peanut filled party we call life! It's a thought...and a good one if the Blue Devil's at Duke are experimenting in their laboratories trying to get to the bottom (of the peanut bag). I support the research. These kids need interaction fully with their peers. There is already entirely too many thoughts focused on these kids to "belong" and "fit in". Having them have to sit at a seperate table, mommy going through all the other kids' lunches, constantly reading labels, walking around in a completely sanitized bubble, bouncing off of peanut products like the pistachio shells boucing off the back of the trash can as I continually school these Kindergarteners with my basket making abilities. (I should have went to Duke, became a Blue Devil, making slam dunks all day long and researching in my lab about peanut allergies on my free time)
What to do?...I think I'll do some thinking over my wild rice and garbanzo bean (also in the peanut family) medley until I figure out a more direct way of getting the point across to the principal that we are a fun filled peanut and bean eating family and that is ALL THERE IS TO IT!!!
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