Would you, Could you
Make a change?
We as humans are creatures of habit. We get into our routines, what works for us and comfortably live there each day. Be it coffee in the morning or brushing 3 times a day we all have our things that we do daily that we are used to doing. What if someone asked you to make a change to that daily routine? What if one of the activities in your everyday life was putting another person, say a child's life at risk? If asked to cease this activity would you? Could you find enough compassion in your heart to make a change? If this one selfless act could essentially prevent a child from dying would you comply?
I, myself have asked many people whom I did not know to make that change. I have vulnerably laid out my story with the hope that these individuals would hear it and sacrifice for my child's life. Unfortunately some of them did not hear and unfortunately some of them could not make that sacrifice.
My situation is one that I suspect some people see as making a mountain out of a molehill since they are not well informed about my child's disability. It is a situation that many other parents deal with and is shockingly a very controversial topic through out our country. This disability that I am referring to is called Anaphylactic Shock caused by a peanut allergy. This is the moment when I cringe at the fact that there will be people who just read that last line and immediately thought, "Ugh peanuts! Not this again!" It's such a soft subject to some. The mom with the picky eater who was just lucky enough to get her child to eat the pb&j in the first place and now she has to find an alternative or the parent who thinks when will it end and what will they ask me to give up next. I get it. It's just one more conscious effort that has to me made each day. One more thing that pops into your brain just before falling asleep at night. But is it not worth it? Is it not worth a mother getting to see her son get off the school bus instead of getting the most dreaded phone call of her life?
Another thing to think about when reacting to this request is how it effects your children . If you make the decision to not make this change how do think your kids see and here that? It's almost as if your saying "not my problem" or "that is just a risk I am willing to take." Now I know that for the most part this is not what people are saying when they deny the request. I am sure it is a misunderstanding of the severity of the allergy or simply forgetting. But that might be how your children see it and if that is your reaction chances are it will be their reaction as well. I can't tell you how many stories I have heard about students teasing, harassing and bullying kids with food allergies. In fact my own son dealt with this when he was only in the first grade. A child would wave his pb&j at him, taunting him that he was going to touch him with it. Using his vulnerability as a weapon against him. If it is this bad in first grade I can't begin to imagine what middle school will be like. The point is we need to educate ourselves and our children about these dangers and disabilities. Just like we should be teaching them to treat everyone as equals we should also be teaching them to help keep our friends safe with selfless acts like eating a little differently while at school.
Now I could sit here and go over statistics of this growing epidemic. I could ramble on about how the allergy to peanuts has doubled in the last five years and tripled over the last fifteen but it isn't learning the statistics that is going to make a difference here. It's learning to retrain our brains to see that just like you would show compassion to a child who has Cancer, a life threatening disease, you can also do the same for a child with a life threatening food allergy and assist in offering them a safe environment.
Please make the commitment with me today to not put any peanuts or peanut products in your child's lunch or snack for school. You can pledge your commitment here:
https://www.causes.com/campaigns/33212-work-to-make-schools-peanut-free
Make a change?
We as humans are creatures of habit. We get into our routines, what works for us and comfortably live there each day. Be it coffee in the morning or brushing 3 times a day we all have our things that we do daily that we are used to doing. What if someone asked you to make a change to that daily routine? What if one of the activities in your everyday life was putting another person, say a child's life at risk? If asked to cease this activity would you? Could you find enough compassion in your heart to make a change? If this one selfless act could essentially prevent a child from dying would you comply?
I, myself have asked many people whom I did not know to make that change. I have vulnerably laid out my story with the hope that these individuals would hear it and sacrifice for my child's life. Unfortunately some of them did not hear and unfortunately some of them could not make that sacrifice.
My situation is one that I suspect some people see as making a mountain out of a molehill since they are not well informed about my child's disability. It is a situation that many other parents deal with and is shockingly a very controversial topic through out our country. This disability that I am referring to is called Anaphylactic Shock caused by a peanut allergy. This is the moment when I cringe at the fact that there will be people who just read that last line and immediately thought, "Ugh peanuts! Not this again!" It's such a soft subject to some. The mom with the picky eater who was just lucky enough to get her child to eat the pb&j in the first place and now she has to find an alternative or the parent who thinks when will it end and what will they ask me to give up next. I get it. It's just one more conscious effort that has to me made each day. One more thing that pops into your brain just before falling asleep at night. But is it not worth it? Is it not worth a mother getting to see her son get off the school bus instead of getting the most dreaded phone call of her life?
Another thing to think about when reacting to this request is how it effects your children . If you make the decision to not make this change how do think your kids see and here that? It's almost as if your saying "not my problem" or "that is just a risk I am willing to take." Now I know that for the most part this is not what people are saying when they deny the request. I am sure it is a misunderstanding of the severity of the allergy or simply forgetting. But that might be how your children see it and if that is your reaction chances are it will be their reaction as well. I can't tell you how many stories I have heard about students teasing, harassing and bullying kids with food allergies. In fact my own son dealt with this when he was only in the first grade. A child would wave his pb&j at him, taunting him that he was going to touch him with it. Using his vulnerability as a weapon against him. If it is this bad in first grade I can't begin to imagine what middle school will be like. The point is we need to educate ourselves and our children about these dangers and disabilities. Just like we should be teaching them to treat everyone as equals we should also be teaching them to help keep our friends safe with selfless acts like eating a little differently while at school.
Now I could sit here and go over statistics of this growing epidemic. I could ramble on about how the allergy to peanuts has doubled in the last five years and tripled over the last fifteen but it isn't learning the statistics that is going to make a difference here. It's learning to retrain our brains to see that just like you would show compassion to a child who has Cancer, a life threatening disease, you can also do the same for a child with a life threatening food allergy and assist in offering them a safe environment.
Please make the commitment with me today to not put any peanuts or peanut products in your child's lunch or snack for school. You can pledge your commitment here:
https://www.causes.com/campaigns/33212-work-to-make-schools-peanut-free
