PB&J: Is This the Worst Weapon Can a Kid Can Bring to School?

[NFS4]

Snippet:

It's hard to believe something as small as a peanut could cause so much controversy. But put it in a lunch bag and it can divide a school.

In Viola, Arkansas, a debate is heating up, after a student had his peanut butter and jelly sandwich confiscated at lunchtime. The school has a no-peanut-products policy due to a few students with allergies, so the teacher helped the little boy get a new lunch and sent home a note explaining the situation to his mom.

That note didn't go over well, apparently. Soon after the incident, a 'School Nut Ban Discussion' group was launched on Facebook by parents conflicted over the policy.

Some parents believe allergy-free students shouldn't have to cater to a few kids' health sensitivities, particularly if it means cutting out healthy or low-cost snacks packed in their own child's lunchbox.

The mom who packed the confiscated PB&J sandwich thinks kids with allergies should learn "how to manage the problem" rather than live inside a "bubble," according to a local news report.

Other parents of special needs kids feel like they're playing second fiddle to those with allergies. "There are some autistic children that will only eat a PB&J sandwich or nothing at all," one parent opposing the ban argued on Facebook.

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/pb-38-j-worst-weapon-kid-bring-school-215000284.html

 

[sdifox]

wtf.

 

[purbeast0]

hopefully this group can be vocal and get stupid shit like this turned around.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Tough situation. Emotions run high when kids are involved. IMO, an all out peanut ban is too extreme.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

Peanuts can be more dangerous than knives in a school. I'm serious -- there are kids with deathly allergies and it is very easy for accidents to happen.

 

[WelshBloke]

hopefully this group can be vocal and get stupid shit like this turned around.

Why?

If someone at school has a potentially fatal allergy and all you need to do to avoid the problem is pack a different lunch what's the problem?

 

[BoomerD]

Tough situation. Emotions run high when kids are involved. IMO, an all out peanut ban is too extreme.

I agree. If your "delicate snowflake" is so highly allergic to a common substance that it poses a life-threatening situation...keep him/her at home.

 

[GasX]

I am sorry to step on Johnny's sensible feelings, but if he is going to die if peanuts touch him, he needs to eat in another room away from the peanuts.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Why?

If someone at school has a potentially fatal allergy and all you need to do to avoid the problem is pack a different lunch what's the problem?

So easy in theory.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

I agree. If your "delicate snowflake" is so highly allergic to a common substance that it poses a life-threatening situation...keep him/her at home.

Well, that's one viewpoint.

You think that being able to have a single specific substance in kids' lunches is more important than other kids being able to have a proper education.

I think that's extreme.

I am sorry to step on Johnny's sensible feelings, but if he is going to die if peanuts touch him, he needs to eat in another room away from the peanuts.

And when Janey has peanut butter and gets it all over her hands and then touches Johnny, then what?

 

[IronWing]

In my whole time growing up I never heard of a kid dying from a peanut allergy, not one. Seems to be a new evolutionary development in humans.

 

[BrokenVisage]

Why?

If someone at school has a potentially fatal allergy and all you need to do to avoid the problem is pack a different lunch what's the problem?

As the article stated there are some autisic kids who will ONLY eat PB&J for lunch, so what about them?

And just so I understand this correctly, does even being near peanuts trigger the allergic reaction? It's not just a matter or them not being able to eat it, correct?

 

[theknight571]

This isn't anything new. I had a friend with a peanut allergy and we were always asked to not bring peanut based items to school. That was 20+ years ago.

I also used to work with someone with a nut allergy. We rushed her to the hospital once when she accidentally ate something with nuts in it. It was "scary" for us, I can only imagine what it's like for the person with the allergic reaction.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

In my whole time growing up I never heard of a kid dying from a peanut allergy, not one. Seems to be a new evolutionary development in humans.

15 seconds on Google.

If you didn't hear of it growing up it's because news wasn't as easily shared back then, not because it didn't happen.

 

[brandonb]

My area has peanut bans in every district. I know plenty of people at work who send their kids to school with a bagged lunch which contains PB&J. They ignore the ban. Apparently nothing happens when a kid brings in PB&J. The school ignores it.

My guess is the school is doing this to prevent lawsuits aimed at them when kids have a reaction: "We have a policy! Blame someone else."

 

[BlackTigers]

You know, I've been allergic to peanuts forever.

In school, I was around them all the time. Sure I got sick a few times, but shit happens. They had an epipen and meds for me, it never bothered me too much.

It'd be impossible (short of the above ban) to remove all traces of nuts, kids don't wash their hands, they spit, touch your shit, just act like kids. Little Peter might know I'm allergic,cut doesn't know everything to do to minimize my exposure from his end.

But I see that as a trade off. It's better than making 99% of the kids suffer by banning them, and is very easy to contain.

Shit happens.

 

[Gunslinger08]

I'd think it would be more beneficial to teach your peanut allergic child how to avoid peanuts and how to deal with it if they do come into contact with them. The real world doesn't exactly ban peanuts everywhere. This is really just a decision based on liability.

 

[LTC8K6]

15 seconds on Google.

If you didn't hear of it growing up it's because news wasn't as easily shared back then, not because it didn't happen.

Uh huh...

Experts say Johnson could have been saved by an EpiPen -- a device that injects epinephrine to reverse the symptoms of anaphylaxis, currently available only by prescription. But Hopkins Elementary had no such device on hand for Johnson.

 

[slayer202]

we all sacrifice certain privileges for the benefit of others. whether or not this should be added to the list isn't clear, but I certainly don't think it's so obviously crazy like most people here do

 

[WelshBloke]

As the article stated there are some autisic kids who will ONLY eat PB&J for lunch, so what about them?

And just so I understand this correctly, does even being near peanuts trigger the allergic reaction? It's not just a matter or them not being able to eat it, correct?

Peanut allergys are brutal, yes being near a bag of peanuts being opened could be enough to kill someone with one.

But small kids eating sandwiches tend to make a mess and smear that stuff around. It only takes a small trace to set off an anaphylaxis reaction.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

Yes, they should have had epipens. But that doesn't change the fact that peanuts can be very dangerous to kids -- it's not like having an anaphylactic episode disappears magically with an epipen.

I'm not saying necessarily that this ban is justified. Just responding to some people who think it's a "wtf" idea -- it's not. It's a serious issue that has to be considered carefully.

 

[mcurphy]

My sister is a teacher, and her school had a PA kid last year. The parents of this PA kid made up flyers and had them sent to all the other kids' parents asking them not to send peanut related products to school with their kids.

When my sister told me about this, I was shocked that she and almost all of the parents supported the PA family, and agreed to keep peanuts out of the school.

My view is that if a kid has a deadly disease, then perhaps his parents need to be inconvenienced and home school?

Why should 400+ families have to change their kids diets (no PB&J) for one other kid? I love PB&J and could not imagine a childhood without it. My kids love PB&J and if they want one for lunch, then I think they should get it.

What's next...no shelled peanuts at baseball games???

 

[darkewaffle]

I eat peanut butter like it's going out of style but even I could deal with a no peanut policy. I think the school is just trying to do right by it's students, within reason. Bitchy parents will just bitch about anything.

I agree. If your "delicate snowflake" is so highly allergic to a common substance that it poses a life-threatening situation...keep him/her at home.

And your "delicate snowflake" might melt without peanuts?

As the article stated there are some autisic kids who will ONLY eat PB&J for lunch, so what about them?

Well, that wasn't exactly a fact. That was a quote from a bitchy parent so grain of salt with that one. And they're both special needs, what makes one more important than the other?

 

[waggy]

I agree. If your "delicate snowflake" is so highly allergic to a common substance that it poses a life-threatening situation...keep him/her at home.

I agree. no reason to make the school go on lockdown because 1 person can't have peanuts.

if the child is that sensitive keep them home.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

Why should 400+ families have to change their kids diets (no PB&J) for one other kid?

Yes, heaven forbid we should teach kids about decency and consideration.. at a school.