School Anaphylaxis Bullying and Growing Parent Resentment
Here is a great post by Shinga over at the blog Breat Spa for Kids. Read it first.
http://breathspakids.blogspot.com
Then read this other post that has information about the physcological aspect of it.
http://allergyasthma.wordpress.com
It summarises what I feel is a growing issue of anaphylactic school bullying with the parents of the bullies actually encouraging the behaviour inadvertantly through there own actions and thoughts.
With more and more kids falling under the allergic banner at schools than in past years and with bans on foods that are put in place by the schools, it’s only fair to say that non allergy parents negative attitudes towards allergic children will be passed down to their children which are then in direct contact with our food allergic children.
There is some good in this world, but there is also the bad, and it only takes one bad to ruin a whole lot of good, with the worst end result being fatal.
This happened to my son in pre-school of all places. You’d think the kids being that young aren’t capable. Don’t be fooled.
I think every day, “I hope my son doesn’t get food bullied today”.
Aaron
You know, not because of this, per se, but I am seriously facing homeschooling mine next year. There are just too many “let-downs” in the schools around us. In general, overall, and specifically with individual schools.
Put it all in one pot, and we’ve got a stew of low academic standards, low behavioral standards (on the part of the teachers as well as the students), and low-to-zero spiritual growth opportunities for young people. Add to that the fact that my kid isn’t safe from a classmate’s brownie, and I don’t see how he’s going to benefit from all of the above.
We can socialize at church, in playgroups, in clubs, etc. And my kid can learn safely at his own pace, at home.
He is on a waitlist for his school, anyway, which I consider to be the best choice in the area in terms of food allergy + social development + education. So…we’ve basically got no choice.
Hi everone,
What an incredible article but does not surprise me. My daughter,Maddie is still no closer to returning to school since I last posted in relation to a nut bullying incident at schiool. She has been absent for 2 1/2 months now and has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress,severe anxiety and panic attacks. The school still doesn’t seem to get it and we have’nt had any real clear communication. The principal was horrified that I took her to her allergist in her preasent state of mind. It struck me after that meeting how much ignorance is out there and such little understanding of the enormity of the situation. Maddie feels all those things in the article-home is safe for now and she doesn’t want to go anywhere. The psychologist wants her to return to school for social reasons but I’m not as convinced-with such little understanding out there from the general public how are any of our children to be kept safe? We are living this nightmare daily with Maddie suffering flashbacks from her last anaphylactic episode to nightmares of all the school kids chasing her with nuts trying to rub them on her lips(which is what happened): the emotional impact on families is enormous. I think the only solution would be to have a private type school from kindy to year 12 just for our kids. We would have eachother for support and our kids would probably thrive in a less anxious environment and have really special frienships based on good old fashioned values such as respect, empathy and compassion(which our kids tend to have) something that is seriously lacking in todays society and really scary for our kids and us parents.
Right now home school looks more and more attractive and I agree with Leslea that socially they can mix with whom THEY chose thereby reducing negative exposure and grow up as caring individuals.
I’ll keep you all posted
Hi, Aaron! I hope you are well.
I’m inviting all my food allergy bloggers and friends to contribute your own personal stories on dealing with food allergies… how you found out that you and/or your child has a food allergy, how you manage your food allergy, some of the things you are doing for Food Allergy Week, and what you want people to know about food allergies. We will post a collection of links to your posts throughout the week. Game?
Alright, so here’s what to do:
1) Visit http://www.checkmytag.com/community.html
2) Let me know you want to join by leaving a comment on today’s post (so I can post a link to you!)
3) Spread the word: link to the CMT Community page and/or display our Food Allergy Week banner and/or tell all your pals!
4) Add a post on your blog for Food Allergy Week
5) Stop by our Community page during the week to see your post and read other people’s stories.
Hope you’ll join us in spreading the word about food allergies…
Ria
I am facing a serious situation at my school. My son who is critically allergic to milk was attacked by an allergy bully. The attacker put a dorito in my son’s food, burying it deep so my son wouldn’t see it. If it hadn’t been for another child who took the food before my son ate it, my story would be VERY tragic right now. Anyways, when the child was asked why he did it, the child stated that he wanted my son to die. Anyways, the school has been asked if the attacker can come back to school to spend sometime eating lunch with his former classmates. (I thought that the child was expelled, but apparently not.) So the mother has been giving the teacher, who has refused to let the attacker back in to the classroom, all sorts of heck. Should I retain an attorney? Please help.
Hi Jessica
That is a terrible thing to happen.
Not knowing the ages of the children or many of the other circumstances it’s hard to say, however personally and this is not legal advice I would cover my bases, because that is a truly serious offense.
I will ask my viewers and listeners for you for their opinions.
Aaron