Banned Peanut Butter in Schools

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Replies

  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
    While it sucks for everyone... the kid with the allergy... the parents that feel like they are being food police to protect their kids... the kids who are super picky and the parents that have to pack their kids lunch... I would rather work around it than to be partially responsible for a kid dying or become seriously injured over something I gave my kid.
  • BlueBombers
    BlueBombers Posts: 4,064 Member
    I agree with it. My kids don't have peanut / nut allergies but if they did damn straight I wouldn't want it anywhere near them. All the schools here are "nut-free".

    I buy my kids WOWBUTTER. Tastes like peanut butter but made with soy so it is school safe and it even comes with stickers to attach to your sandwich bag/container. They don't even miss it.

    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSIm5gSV06-Pb6YfbaGfH7OyGETUgT103Z0yGb6avXpW2RNCNH5
  • MomTo3Lovez
    MomTo3Lovez Posts: 800 Member
    It wouldn't bother me and my daughter is a big PB sandwich fan for lunch, but if it came to be at her school she would either figure out something else to eat for lunch or just not eat, kids will live not bringing PB to school.
  • MomTo3Lovez
    MomTo3Lovez Posts: 800 Member
    I agree with it. My kids don't have peanut / nut allergies but if they did damn straight I wouldn't want it anywhere near them. All the schools here are "nut-free".

    I buy my kids WOWBUTTER. Tastes like peanut butter but made with soy so it is school safe and it even comes with stickers to attach to your sandwich bag/container. They don't even miss it.

    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSIm5gSV06-Pb6YfbaGfH7OyGETUgT103Z0yGb6avXpW2RNCNH5

    Never even heard of that...will have to see if I can find it by me.
  • BlueBombers
    BlueBombers Posts: 4,064 Member
    I agree with it. My kids don't have peanut / nut allergies but if they did damn straight I wouldn't want it anywhere near them. All the schools here are "nut-free".

    I buy my kids WOWBUTTER. Tastes like peanut butter but made with soy so it is school safe and it even comes with stickers to attach to your sandwich bag/container. They don't even miss it.

    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSIm5gSV06-Pb6YfbaGfH7OyGETUgT103Z0yGb6avXpW2RNCNH5

    Never even heard of that...will have to see if I can find it by me.

    I live in Canada but I can find it in most grocery stores, I can't remember if it is by the peanut butter or in the health food section. According to their website it is also available in the US.

    http://www.soybutter.com/wowbutter.html

    You can also order it on Amazon.

    My kids like it. It's a little more grainy in texture than regular peanut butter but it's not bad at all.
  • walterm852
    walterm852 Posts: 409 Member
    I have 4 healthy kids, one of which has a peanut allergy. Its a pain in the neck. It sucks for him, and for the other 3 non allergic ones as well. Something has happened in our food/drug chain that has dramatically affect the numbers and severity of the condition. The occurrence of peanut and tree nut allergies seems to have tripled between 1997 and 2008 according to many sources.

    You may be surprised that many schools do it because they are obligated to provide a safe environment for all kids and they dont want to deal with allergic reactions because teachers refuse to administer the Epi pens. Literally, all you do is stick it in their thigh. Check out this quick Google link below, in Ca they wanted to add an Epi pen to a schools First Aid kit and train 1, yep...just 1 staff member, and the teachers union is against it. (BTW, not a teacher basher).

    http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/04/28/bill-to-require-epipens-in-pubic-schools-faces-opposition-from-teachers-union/.

    Its not the peanut butter sandwiches, its the incredible looking cookie that the 6yr old buddy swears is peanut free, some candy corn, some jelly beans, Twinkies, pesto (tree nut), etc. I almost gave my son a Mango ice not knowing it was a tree nut classification.

    We dont expect bans at all, we feel its our obligation to bring peanut free desserts to school and family events. When we go to a baseball game, if people around us are eating peanuts and shells are flying, we dont say a word and try to rearrange seats, we even left good seats, went to guest services and changed seats to seat comfortably. But gives us a break too when it comes to peanut shells flying all over the place at ball parks and others just dont care if their child is inconvenienced for not being able to bring peanut butter cookies to class for a birthday..

    Lastly, thanks to all the food establishments that get it. It means a lot when ice cream places take care in preparation, even though its become normal, its still much appreciated
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Hi,

    One of my colleagues, who has kids, told me that peanut butter had been banned from the school.

    The rational behind that was that if a kid exchanged his PB sandwich with someone else, the other kid could be allergic and could be seriously sick.

    What do you guys think about that?

    Looking forward to reading your thoughts!

    Thanks,
    Deborah

    I personally love peanut butter, but I totally agree...it is also banned from many if not most day care facilities. My youngest child is very allergic to peanuts and we have to carry an epi pen at all times. He doesn't even need to eat the peanut or peanut butter...if you have a peanut butter sandwich and then give him a kiss on the cheek he blows up like a marshmallow and can't breath (guess how we found out he was allergic).

    It's a very serious thing and I am always fearful that my kid is going to get a hold of some peanuts or something and that his life will be taken from us. Even more frightening is the number of products that contain peanuts...fortunately he hasn't had any reactions to trace sources.
  • walterm852
    walterm852 Posts: 409 Member
    Sunbutter is a favorite at school, its made with Sunflower kernals
  • jnichel
    jnichel Posts: 4,553 Member
    Good. I hate peanut butter.

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    So you don't want anyone else to have it because you don't like it?

    makes sense.

    'Murica! :laugh:
  • lisalsd1
    lisalsd1 Posts: 1,519 Member
    My child is allergic to peanuts. Public schools here have not banned peanuts. My child's private preschool did though.

    Luckily, my daughter isn't dangerously allergic; but having been an elementary school teacher, I have known of children that were literally "deathly" allergic to peanuts.

    The problem with peanut butter is that children get it EVERYWHERE! The real problem isn't that the kids share food (which they do), the real problem is that peanut butter/oil gets all over hands, tables, etc. and can easily be transferred to other kids. My school tried to mitigate the situation by having "peanut-free tables." This seems like a reasonable solution, and I never dealt with a situation where a student had a severe reaction to another student's peanut butter.
  • Lisa1971
    Lisa1971 Posts: 3,069 Member
    I don't see a problem with it. Young kids probably don't fully grasp the consequences of allergies. I'd hate for a kid to die or something just because of a lunch sandwich.

    THIS! It's not worth it to see someone die over peanut butter.
  • Lisa1971
    Lisa1971 Posts: 3,069 Member
    Good. I hate peanut butter.

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    I WISH I hated that stuff. My life would be so much easier!:laugh: :grumble:
  • kcmcd
    kcmcd Posts: 239 Member
    I have three kids and the littlest one is allergic to peanuts. And when I say he is allergic to peanuts I mean peanuts can kill him.

    Peanuts. Can. Kill. Him. As in dead. As in forever.

    He's only two so I don't have to worry about sending him off to a world where peanuts are everywhere just yet. I do carry an epi pen everywhere we go on the chance that someone has peanut traces on their hands, or mouth, or he picks up a wrapper, or or or or or. I read labels obsessively (because he's also allergic to soy and soy is in every freaking thing) and tell anyone who might feed him anything for any reason that he has a life threatening allergy to peanuts.

    And I'm really sorry. I am. I feel badly that my special little snowflake does make lunch time and snack time harder for lots of families. It's hard for us too. I'm not doing it to be mean. But I'm terrified. Because all we need is a trace of peanuts on someone's face and there's my baby - not breathing.

    So I'm super duper grateful for the parents who take the school restrictions seriously because I want my kid to come home safe just as much as you do. Thanks for letting me be a little less terrified, even though it is a huge PITA for you.
  • kcmcd
    kcmcd Posts: 239 Member
    I'm going away for a few days with some girlfriends in a couple of weeks and you know what I'm going to eat the whole time? Everything with peanuts in it. All I want is peanuts.
  • ShellyBell999
    ShellyBell999 Posts: 1,482 Member
    Good. I hate peanut butter.

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    Say it isn't so :angry:
  • jodynolte
    jodynolte Posts: 243 Member
    My youngest brother is autistic and peanut butter crackers is the only thing he would eat.. for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So he would have just had to not eat lunch. That's a long day... good thing he's out of school now. I get the ban, totally, and would support it, but for him that would have been awful too. Curious to know what the school would do in that case...
  • Jenni129
    Jenni129 Posts: 692 Member
    Good. I hate peanut butter.

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  • GBrady43068
    GBrady43068 Posts: 1,256 Member
    While it sucks for everyone... the kid with the allergy... the parents that feel like they are being food police to protect their kids... the kids who are super picky and the parents that have to pack their kids lunch... I would rather work around it than to be partially responsible for a kid dying or become seriously injured over something I gave my kid.
    ^ This
    ALL of this...

    I teach Sunday school and in the last three years we have done away with snack time due to the prevalence and severity of food allergies. It was just easier (and safer). I've had to learn how to use an Epi-pen because of the severe allergies lately.
  • kristydi
    kristydi Posts: 781 Member
    Just gonna tell this story.

    I was an elementary school teacher before I had my kids. I taught a kid with severe nut allergies. One day during snack time I ate a granola bar that did not have nuts in it, but I didn't realize it had been made in a factory that also made ones with nuts. I ate my snack sitting on a desk top. The next class included the nut allergic kid and his seat was the desk I had sat on. 10 minutes into class his face was noticeably swollen and he was wheezing. By the end of the class period his face was so swollen he could barely see and his mom was on the way to get him. Thankfully he didn't need to go to the hospital. But it was a very powerful illustration of how scary these allergies can be and how little it takes to trigger some of them.
  • kaseyr1505
    kaseyr1505 Posts: 624 Member
    My youngest brother is autistic and peanut butter crackers is the only thing he would eat.. for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So he would have just had to not eat lunch. That's a long day... good thing he's out of school now. I get the ban, totally, and would support it, but for him that would have been awful too. Curious to know what the school would do in that case...

    He probably would get a waiver to go to a school that didn't have a nut ban.