A pushy mom in Orange County (CA) was concerned enough about her five-year-old's peanut allergies to convince the school to hire a nurse, to force his little peers to wash their hands every morning, and to institute lunchbox searches. Needless to say, the other parents think she - and the school - have gone overboard:
[Confiscation of other student's lunches] was enough to get the petitions out and by Monday night's PTA meeting more than 70 people had signed their names to a demand that school officials explain what steps have been taken and why they were necessary...Many of those attending questioned why the boy couldn't be schooled at home if his condition is so severe.
As far as his mother is concerned, the other parents are "uninformed" - as though none of them have ever heard of peanut allergies, or have kids with life-threatening allergies themselves. The comments of one allergist are enlightening:
Walnut Creek allergist and immunologist Dr. Nancy Mozelsio earlier in the day told The Chronicle that it is not unusual for schools to create a "nut- free zone" for allergic students. Children are asked not to bring nut products to class, and even items like coconut sunblock are checked.
"That works quite well," says Mozelsio. "I would say that in most cases having the child in a nut-free zone, being careful not to share food, and not eating anything not packed by mom or dad should be fine."
It's possible that this 5-year-old's reactions might be so severe as to be a threat, but that would be very unusual, Mozelsio said. "I would say having someone (a nurse) go around with that person and searching lunch boxes is a bit excessive, in my opinion," she said. "There have been a couple of cases written up of reactions from people who experienced a reaction just touching or breathing peanut dust. But I think there's a little hysteria involved. That's not typical of what we see."
Important things to note: (a) the parent may be exaggerating if she claims her kid can die just from touching a drop of peanut oil, (b) if she's not, and he is that allergic, she should understand that his condition is rare enough that many parents may not believe it, nor should they be expected to know about it, and it's quite logical for them to ask why the kid shouldn't stay home, and (c) the allergist puts the onus where it should be - on the kid not to eat other children's food.
As a parent of another peanut-allergy sufferer and Valle Verde alumi put it:
"By kindergarten, and certainly by first grade, my son was able to say, 'What is in that?' " she said. "Searching a lunch box is insane. This goes to personal responsibility not changing the rest of the world to fit you."
The OpinionJournal found this story first, and I wish I had thought of the line, "Yeah, well, good luck trying to establish a nut-free zone in California" first.
Posted by kswygert at September 10, 2003 04:09 PM