School Lunches

huskymom

About the Tahini, where the heck do you find it in the grocery store? 

If your grocery store has a sort of "ethnic" section, check there. It seems to be used mainly in Asian cuisine, though obviously also in Mediterranean/Middle Eastern stuff (hummus).

huskymom

Kale is not big on any sandwiches other than PB&J, which he of course can't take to school.  So it has to be things that are nut free,

why can't he take peanuts to school? That's weird. My daughter isn't limited on what she can take...they eat in a cafeteria setting indoors.

Kids here can't take peanut butter or peanut things to school because of other kids with severe peanut allergies.  I don't know if there is a province wide ban, but here (i am about 45 minutes from Toronto) you are not allowed peanuts in the school.  When I was in school a child was taken to hospital and nearly died because of peanut butter in the class room

i love cheese and turkey pepperoni for lunch!

rwbeagles

huskymom

Kale is not big on any sandwiches other than PB&J, which he of course can't take to school.  So it has to be things that are nut free,

why can't he take peanuts to school? That's weird. My daughter isn't limited on what she can take...they eat in a cafeteria setting indoors.

Im curious to hear this too... no peanuts :( that sucks!

Bummer. One wonders how that prepares kids for well, life...where in the workplace, train, bus, concert, bar, sporting events, etc people will bring what they personally...like to eat. Hope it doesn't get that way here anytime soon.

 Actually around here, there are alot of workplaces that don't allow peanut products either.  Its quite common.  Kale actually has a girl in her class that has the peanut allergy.  At the beginning of the year she went to a different school and then transfered to Kale's, so they used to be able to take PB.

Its somewhat contraversial.  Lots of parents don't like the inconvenience of thinking up alternatives to PB.  But the alternative to it is that this little girl must then go and eat her lunch in an entirely different room from the other kids.  Its not her fault she has this allergy.  And its not like she's doing it to spite other kids.  She already has to be careful whenever she eats in a public place, I think letting her feel safe in school is perfectly acceptable.  

OT slightly, but a boy I know is allergic to Latex.  He goes into anaphalactic(sp?) shock at the slightest exposure.  His teacher had a rubber band that she was playing with at the next table to him and he ended up in the hospital.  This kid hardly ever went to Birthday Parties as a kid, because parents were not willing to leave out balloons.  His mom would RSVP to let them know the problem, and they would tell her that their kid was not gonna miss out just because some other kid would get the sniffles.  I don't think teaching a kid that kind of lesson is necessary.  He already had to miss out on tons of fun kid stuff, like circus', fairs, parades etc.  Its sucks to be a minority.

I wonder if it sets them a false sense of security where they stop even worrying and then...well...yeah. I mean do they let kids at your schools, outdoors where there might be bees or wasps?

Mind you, daughter's school has SWINGS tho, and allows tag...so we're all kinds of wild here in Texas.

BTW...they are very close to curing that nut allergy thing from what I read. Might've been less trouble, to wait it out LOL.

ARTICLE

hmmmm... cold chicken fingers and veggie sticks with honey mustard sauce, apple butter sandwich, shredded roast chicken sandwich, soft pretzel with cheese and salami, soup in a thermos. I'll try to think of some others.

Some children with peanut allergies have it so severe that they don't have to touch or consume the nut, just be anywhere near it. . My nephews school first split the cafeteria in half (nut and no nut), but even that didn't work so now it's just nut free.

I feel bad for the kids. Having an anaphalactic shock reaction is probably one of the scariest things a child can go through. Schools around here wont let the children carry epi-pens, they must be left with the nurse. When I get stung by a bee or wasp my throat will be completely swollen shut within 4-5 minutes. It's too much of a liability for the school to put the children in a position where they are more likely to have a reaction especially when medication isn't immediately available to them, and it can take several shots to stop the reaction.

rwbeagles

I wonder if it sets them a false sense of security where they stop even worrying and then...

I don't think so Gina.  The kids that I know, who have the allergy, are very aware of it.  Parents start warning the kids at a very young age.  Its drilled into them daily, regardless if the school is peanut free or not.  School is the ONLY place where they can let their guard down a bit.  Besides, lunch hour is usually less supervised than any other part of the schoolday.  In fact at Kale's school, the lunch moniters are Grade 8 students rather than teachers.  Kids that age aren't typically trained to handle emergencies like that.  And like someone else mentioned, a kid doesn't even have to eat the peanuts to have a reaction.  It can be as simple as a kid having a PB sandwich and then touching the pencil sharpener, which the allergic kid then touches.  Thats hard to combat.  

So then it becomes a matter of finding a room for the peanut eating kids to eat in that the allergic kids will never enter.  Making sure that each and every child washes his hands after eating, even if they didn't eat peanuts, because they might have been in contact with them.   I mean, ideally kids should wash hands anyway, but how many forget? 

In any event, I believe it was over exposure to peanuts that created this allergy in the first place.  I know I was very dependant on Peanut Butter for lunches for Kale and I took them to school almost everyday when I was a kid too.  If it wasn't this it would be something else.

Oh and GASP!  Kale's school still has Monkey Bars!

huskymom

 

In any event, I believe it was over exposure to peanuts that created this allergy in the first place.  I know I was very dependant on Peanut Butter for lunches for Kale and I took them to school almost everyday when I was a kid too.  If it wasn't this it would be something else.

I don't doubt this at all.  I don't ever remember hearing about peanut allergies when my boys were little and one of them would have starved to death if it hadn't been for PB. He's 37 and he still eats big spoons of it right out of the jar, swirled in cool whip. I know Southwest will not serve peanuts on any flight that carries a peanut allergic passenger.

Joyce

 Well, I mean, we know that after using Chicken as the main source of protien in Dog Food for so long, many, many dogs are born with an intollerance to it.  Same with corn.  And then people get annoyed cause its inconvenient to find foods not made with those ingredients. 

It will be super nice if they can cure allergies.