"This is getting out of hand.. What next a meat free zone?"
If you had a child with a peanut allergy so severe he or she could die, you wouldn't consider this out of hand. The daughter of one of my friends has gone into immediate shock from the breath of somebody who had just eaten peanut butter.
I'm not sure that what the school has done is the best answer, but an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts is not a liberal PC thing; it's life and death.
How do they plan to protect this child for day-to-day living?
I agree, it is serious. However, measures should be taken to isolate the single allergic child, not the rest of the PB eating world.
Fine, so have a "Peanut Free" area in the cafeteria, problem solved. Whay have the inverse? This child will not go through life with his/her path being cleared before him/her of peanuts, just better get used to it.
If my daughter had allergies severe enough that common precautions to avoid it were not enough, I would not send her to public school. And yes, it is that simple.
I do not believe that it is societies responsibility to bend over for my needs.
"If you had a child with a peanut allergy so severe he or she could die, you wouldn't consider this out of hand. The daughter of one of my friends has gone into immediate shock from the breath of somebody who had just eaten peanut butter.
"I'm not sure that what the school has done is the best answer, but an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts is not a liberal PC thing; it's life and death."
Two words: Home School
In order to get seven hours per day of free babysitting, the parents are willing to play their child's life against the odds that some other little kid isn't going to accidentally expose him to peanut butter.
Then you should quarantine the allergic child not the rest of the school population. I agree with an earlier poster, somewhere along the line this child is going to enter the real world where not everyone is aware of his allergy, nor taking steps to protect him. I can understand the parents concern for the health of their child, but you can't expect the whole world to quarantine itself for this childs safety. The school should designate one or two tables in the cafeteria peanut free tables and this child and his friends can sit there.
I would home school the kid, because simply moving the evil peanut butter eaters to the peanut gallery is not going to prevent them from potentially breathing on the kid later in the day.
I guess the reason we're hearing more about people like this is due to modern medical technology. It was probably the case, decades ago, that someone with an allergy this severe wouldn't even survive to kindergarten.
Then again, I wonder how much of this is caused by environmental factors or other things that multiply a child's sensitivity. Perhaps we've unwittingly caused this problem.
Hopefully medical technology can come up with a cure for this, that your friend's daughter might live a long and happy life.