Parents go nuts over peanut ban

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Wednesday, September 10, 2003

[JohnHuang2]

An elementary school's reaction to one student's allergy to peanuts has parents complaining about "Nazi-like" peanut police searching their children's backpacks.

Angry parents packed a parent-teacher meeting last night at Valle Verde Elementary School in Walnut Creek, Calif., to protest the school's new "peanut reduction policy."

Under the policy, kindergarten classrooms and a special playground area have been designated "peanut- and tree nut-free zones." Students and visitors are required to wash their hands. Backpacks and lunch boxes are searched and peanut products are confiscated.

The policy is in response to lobbying by parent Leora Cope, whose 5-year-old son's allergy is so severe that even peanut butter residue left on the playground monkey bars could send him into anaphylactic shock. Cope's family demanded the Mt. Diablo school district accommodate their son under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the federal regulation known as Section 504.

The Copes had wanted peanuts banned from the entire school campus. The reduction policy was adopted as a compromise.

The district also hired a health aide to spend 30 hours a week training staff members in the use of an Epipen, an adrenaline injector that assists people who go into anaphylactic shock.

"Everyone's going to do the best they can to keep him safe, as they would any child," district spokeswoman Sue Berg told the Contra Costa Times, pointing out that Valle Verde's policy is less restrictive than others. "There are whole schools that have declared themselves peanut-free."

But parents questioned why hundreds of children must lose the traditional lunchtime staple over one child's allergy.

"If their child has such severe allergies, I suggest that they home-school their child," the local paper quotes parent Carol Gross as saying. "I would like to know what this family does out in the world. They expect over 600 families to conform to their unfortunate situation, not to mention the cost of the already financially suffering school district to have a nurse appointed solely to attend to the needs of one child."

Some parents are considering keeping their kindergarteners home from school for a day to demonstrate their displeasure over the nut ban.

Parent, Amy Casey, has started a protest petition to promote "dialogue" with the district.

"There have to be reasonable accommodations," Casey said. "[But] they're searching my kid's backpack. There's no reading specialist, but [they hired] a 30-hour-a-week aide who's a nurse?"

"What we're talking about is life or death, not hives," countered PTA president Kim Moore. "For this year, we have this little person who needs us to take really good care of him, and there's plenty of case law out there."

[RonF]

Lots of allergies were unheard of when we were kids. Now we have Troops showing up at summer camp with coolers filled with medications. That's because unlike when we were children, there are groups of parents who feel that they're not good parents unless their homes and their children are spotless and sanitized 24/7, and they compound this by keeping their kid inside that house to play most of the time. Whereas when I came home from school, the first thing I did was change into my play clothes (remember when you wore clothes to school that didn't look like you had just come from a pickup softball game or a dance?) and go outside.

Or, as my wife puts it, "Every kid has to eat their pound of dirt." And now there's science to back this up. My kids spent their childhood playing around outside, digging foxholes in the back yard. They'd come in filthy. Amazingly enough, soap and water took care of them and their clothes. And they don't have any allergies.

[mr.pink]

If the kid is not fit to live in public, he must not be allowed in public.

I agree...either homeschool or "bubble boy" him.

[WestPacSailor]

See, I just KNEW I should have used the /sarcasm tag, but it soooo ruins the effect of the sarcasm.

[webstersII]

They have the same rule at my son's pre-school, which is a Christian school attached to a church.

I can see the point but it is frustrating for all the other kids. Of course, this is a private school and if we don't like it we can go somewhere else.

To answer someone's question about how do they live their life with such a condition, this allergic reaction usually diminishes as the child ages and many times as an adult it is not life threatening anymore.

[mr.pink]

Or, as my wife puts it, "Every kid has to eat their pound of dirt."

Your wife is right...overly sterile environments don't help kids in the long run.

[mtbopfuyn]

We pulverized this nut case yesterday, but thanks for the update. That mama can't make the entire world a peanut-free zone. Does she have a special nurse follow the kid around 24/7? Why not? Huh? If the kid will die at the mere mention of the evil nut at school then she's a bad mom for not protecting him outside of school. Hey, she's the one pushing it to extremes.

It's too bad the kid has this problem, but it's his problem not every child in the entire school's problem.

[blackdog]

Home school your kids until the public system changes. By home schooling you exercise the most lethal solution to the disease called "public schools".

When you pull your kid/s and teach them at home, it's like putting a "stop payment" order on a $10,000 check. It gets their attention. Trust me on this. We did it and I've now been asked to run for the school board.

Home schooling your kids, having them well mannered, highly visible around the adults during the daytime, and able to communicate in adult fashion over current events, their thoughts, and goals is like a walking billboard for teaching your kids at home.

[TomGuy]

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time

[Pan_Yans Wife]

My friend took her kid to the doctor, with a low-grade temperature on a school day. The doctor said the kid was fine, and should be in school. My friend said she didn't want to infect the other children, if it was a virus.

The doctor laughed and said, "We call that innoculating the herd!" Unless your child is uncomfortable, send them to school. Because sooner or later they are going to get all of the viruses that are running through the school. Get it over quickly.

I agree, and now send my child to school, unless they have complained of discomfort, and do not have any alarming symptoms.

Children are much more resilient than parents think.

[RoughDobermann]

As RD puts it, "Lighten up, Francis"

I get a dollar everytime you use that, you know. Pay up, monkey boy!

[VRWC_minion]

Couldn't the kid wear gloves ?

[So Cal Rocket]

And in related news:

Today the Walnut Creek City council, citing "tree nut allergies of many of their constituents", officially changed the name of their city to Ham and Cheese Creek.

[WestPacSailor]

Whereas when I came home from school, the first thing I did was change into my play clothes

What ever happened to play clothes vs. school clothes. I remember having to wear collared shirts and proper shoes to school, 'cept for gym class, (I still remember my 3rd grade gym class locker combination. Freaky, eh?) and then changing into "play clothes" at home. One didn't dare leave the house in "play clothes" unless one was going out to play...never to school, church, or even the store with mom. (Has anybody figured out yet why it is acceptable for moms to use "mom spit" to clean children? That is just sooooo wrong!)

"Every kid has to eat their pound of dirt."

Tastes even better with a little bit of that arts & crafts paste on top.

I find my house stays much neater and cleaner if the kids are OUTSIDE as often as possible.

[Publius6961]

Read the other long thread on this story.
I managed to refrain from posting there because it is like arguing tolerance with a queer.

I can only make these observations:

Giving professional whiners an inch will turn them into the biggest despots imanigeable.
Yes, some personalities love wielding power over normal people. Specially if they are subnormal themselves.

This kid is now not only handicapped, but despised. Unintended consequences are a bitch.

Parents who demand that their handicapped kids be considered normal no matter how many it inconveniences or damages in real ways, should do jail time. Compulsory compassion is no different from oppression for any other reason.

Finally, the PC contingent which supports this sort of mindless delusion of handicapping a whole class or a whole school to allow one loser parent to feel "normal" can be found supporting all sorts of other mindless things.

Kill the ADA!

[4mycountry]

Here are five. I can use it 4 more times without paying. Nyah!

[luckystarmom]

To some extent I agree with you. However, my twin daughters almost died from a common cold virus (RSV) when they were 6 weeks old. Their first year of life, I tried to keep them away from people with colds. Every time they got one, my daughter had a serious asthma reaction. I was exhausted.

What bothered me was people would get togeher and announce that their kids had a cold and they acted like "It's just a cold". They should have told me beforehand because I would not have seen their kids.

Anyway, it freaks a parent out to almost lose a kid. My daughters would have died if they would have been born 30 years ago (before there were ventilators for infants).

However, our lives were impacted, and I didn't think we should impact anyone else's lives. I avoided public places when I didn't want to get my kids sick.

Thank goodness, my daughters have grown (almost 7) and colds are better now. I've learned not to judge other parents because I don't know what they've been through.

[Publius6961]

But I'm still puzzled as to why this is suddenly a grave health problem all of a sudden.

It's not.
"Perhaps there is no stronger impulse in man than the desire to lay down rules of conduct for others"

[WestPacSailor]

Couldn't the kid wear gloves ?

you mean like this?:

[blackdog]

Intense scrutiny of many ailments in young adults can be traced back to single child families. These single child families kept their cherished child spotless. No dirt, worms, letting the dog eat cereal out of their mouth, every cut cleaned, creamed, bandaged, every piece of fruit washed, and so on.........Specifically multiple sclerosis is one of them.

IMHO many of the parents of the kids like peanut boy have some serious mental problems. They are acting out some sort of ritual for reasons only rich white females with no sense of balance in their life can share after thirty years of professional counseling.

Ever wonder why poor children don't have eating disorders, asthma, bedwetting counselors, or see a physician for weekly allergy shots? Because they have better things to do like live life.

[WestPacSailor]

...officially changed the name of their city to Ham and Cheese Creek.

Not so fast bub! We cannot condone the senseless slaughtering of pigs and the terrible crime of bovine enslavement.