Halloween is nearly here and soon to follow will be other holidays filled with food and gatherings. Now is the perfect time to be thinking about allergy inclusive/allergy aware treats for your child and their friends so that everyone can have a safe, fun time! 

Allergy Education is Important Even if Your Child Doesn’t Have Them

Halloween is the perfect time to start a discussion about allergy education. Here are some quick facts about allergies from the Kids with Food Allergies website, an excellent resource:

• 1 in 13 kids has a food allergy. This means you/your child are almost certain to be in contact with a child with allergies.
• The most common food allergies in infants and children are eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, soy and wheat.
• Children may outgrow some allergies (egg, milk and soy) but may be less likely to outgrow others (peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish).

A Parent’s Perspective on Allergies

by Karina Reuter, Alum Parent
As parents, we all spend a lot of time worrying about our children.  Before we had children we were clueless – we had no firsthand experience with severe food allergies.

After eating a nut for the first time, our son ended up in the hospital at age one.  We did more testing and learned his allergy is severe and life threatening.  For him, nuts are the equivalent of poison.  In our homes, we keep cleaners and other toxic items away from kids to avoid harm.  And we feel relieved to have GTMS be a nut and peanut free school.  But out in the world, for the kids with food allergies, ‘poisons’ are readily available – in their friend’s lunchboxes, on the playground with sticky peanut butter fingers, handed out at Halloween, on airplanes as free snacks and pretty much everywhere you look.  We have also learned that in many cases businesses don’t know what is in the food they are selling and people don’t know what is in the food they are serving.  Too often we are told something was safe when it contained the very ingredients that he can’t eat.

We have to ask questions, a lot of questions, and even then, we need to still be very skeptical to keep him safe. If you invite our son to a party, we will RSVP with a message asking about the presence of peanut products and nuts.  We do not ask for concessions, just information so we can be aware.  If we ask again about ingredients, please don’t take it personally, we are just doing our best to keep our son safe.  We are very thankful when fellow parents really understand the severity of the risks we are trying to constantly navigate. 

What is Greene Towne’s allergy policy?

Greene Towne Montessori is a Peanut and Tree Nut Free School, including Coconut. 
For students who bring their own lunch, that means any foods/items that have these ingredients will not be allowed, and sent home. For any foods shared in-house, staff takes extreme care in purchasing/preparing snacks.

We collect allergy information from parents through the Family Fact Sheet on MyGTMS.org at the beginning of the year. We make an allergy list that is placed in each kitchen and every classroom. By the time our students are Ks, they are more vocal, confident, and educated about what they may and may not eat without judgement from their friends.

As you have celebrations with friends and family, it’s good to be reminded that there are plenty of delicious peanut/tree nut free treats to share.

*****Greene Towne Montessori is a Peanut and Tree Nut Free School, including Coconut*****
Question: Coconut is a fruit, not a nut. Why is it included in the list?
Answer: Coconut is included because the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) places coconut in the nut classification. This is because there are documented cases of severe coconut reactions from tree nut allergy sufferers with an unknown coconut allergy.

Resources

Kids With Food Allergies

Celebrate Halloween Safely

What’s the Big Deal About Allergies?

Recipes