Peanut Allergy: Don't Be a Hater!

As the school year is underway, there is a rise in the number of news pieces about peanut allergies in schools and the attempts at keeping our kids safe by either having a school wide ban on peanuts or allergy tables and other measures in place to diffuse the peanutty goodness in the classroom.

I'm always amazed at the ignorance of people who comment on these articles and casually say that kids with peanut allergies should do the following (my commentary is in parenthesis):

1. Be homeschooled (Homeschooling? Why didn't I think of that? Because I don't know about you, but I'm MADE of money and I don't have a mortgage or anything).
2. Be sent to a separate room to eat (So they can reap the benefits of NOT socializing at school - she feels bad enough about sitting at an allergy table, so yeah isolating her even more will be SO helpful).
   
3. Be expected to know exactly what they can and can't have at the ripe old age of 5 (what? your 5 year old doesn't know how to read? Sheesh!)
4. Be fed peanuts so they aren't a bother anymore. (so THAT's how you treat peanut allergy?!? I feel so stupid).
5. Know that when this commenter was a kid there was no such thing as food allergies (yeah, we're making this whole PA up for attention. blah, blah, blah - well you know what? there are allergies NOW and we're doing the best we can to keep our kid ALIVE at school).
   

It's just a sandwich people - one food of millions. Lighten up. Our kids have a right to a safe place to learn. And I hate to break it to them, but technically food allergies can be classified as a disability so we have good old 504's to back us up. Should we discourage kids with diabetes (we may need to alter our snacks!) or epilepsy (a seizure might interrupt my child's day!) from attending school too? Or how about kids with physical disabilities? Shall I go on?

Hey Mr/Ms Commenter: why not take this as an opportunity to teach your child tolerance? I'm sure you don't know what that means.

My personal stance on allergy tables and peanut bans is this. I support peanut free classrooms for preschool and kindergarten. I support allergy tables and good hygiene/preventative measures for elementary school kids (and junior high as well). A peanut free cafeteria menu would be cool, just so B can eat lunch and not worry about cross contamination, but I wouldn't make it a deal breaker. But banning PB and all traces of it completely? I just don't think it's realistic. So why not come up with a solution that works under each circumstance?

Ultimately, why do people need to be so mean? We know not having peanuts (or wheat or egg or milk) sucks. We live it every day. For you it is a small choice to not send a sandwich in. For us it is a choice between life and death for our child.

OK, my venting is over. Do you have anything to add?