Freitag

Sticky Issue

I just read this article on The Consumerist about parents who want a child kicked out of school for her peanut allergy and it hits home pretty hard. My son has a classmate with this kind of life-or-death peanut allergy. The child could die if exposed to any oils or any part of a peanut. I absolutely fear looking like the a-hole, as the parents do in this article. But I do feel like I would have to make special accommodations for my son if he had such an allergy, rather than the whole world making special accommodations for him. In my particular case, my son happens to be a very picky eater and he won’t eat anything but a sandwich for lunch. And even then, there are only 2 sandwiches he will eat. Peanut butter and jelly or a grilled cheese. That may sound like an easy solution, but there are nuts in the bread we buy. There is peanut oil on almost every packaged food item, such as fruit snacks. This is the mother of all allergies. 

This is one of those things that make me really self reflect. Is the burden on this child and the family alone? Or do we all take on the burden as a society?