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School districts should not ban peanut products from everyone. Peanut products are not the only allergen that can cause severe reactions. Eventually you would have to ban eating at school all together!

I am not opposed however to banning such products for class parties or school functions where food is brought in. My oldest daughter's school only allows products with labels on them so they can check for allergens that may affect their class and that is very reasonable. I also have a 3-year old daughter and her preschool bans all peanut products. That is reasonable also.

From elementary school on children with allergies to food items need to know what to avoid. They need to be taught not to except food or snacks from anyone. If they have a seriously life threatening allergy they should be separated from others as a precaution. All students should be encouraged not to share food that they brought or even purchased in the cafeteria as a deterrent. Educate everyone of the dangers of sharing food.

Now for preschool it is necessary to just ban products that may cause severe reactions. A child eating a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich is most likely to get peanut-butter on their hands, in their hair and so on. Then they accidentally drink from their friends juice bag and get peanut-butter on the straw. That kid who is allergic and drinks from the straw and next thing you know is off to the hospital.

Preschoolers are too young to understand the dangers but training should start here. The child who is allergic needs to learn to recognize what is off limits as soon as possible. All children should be taught not to share food with anyone at school. This could cut back on colds also and that would be a win win.

Children with severe allergies need to know that there allergy triggers are out there and are all around. They need not expect that someone has gone before them and cleared the path and everything is safe. They need to always be alert and never let their guard down. Depending totally on others will only lead to carelessness.

No, I don't have a child with food allergies, at least none that we have discovered yet. I can imagine as a parent that it is frightening to let your child out of sight and into the care of others. As a parent of a child with severe peanut allergies you would know exactly where peanuts hide. So many products are processed on machinery that may have come into contact with peanuts. Parents like myself who don't have to deal with this daily are not going to be as careful screening what they send to school with their children. While peanut butter sandwiches may be an obvious no-no, cheese crackers processed one peanut contaminated equipment may go unnoticed.

Even if there was a ban on all peanut products there is no guarantee. This would just be a false sense of security and an unrealistic environment.

Learn more about this author, Tinya Smith.
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