Prior to the beginning of school ask your child’s teacher about their classroom policy about snacks and treats being brought in for the class. Some teachers may be very willing to adjust their policy to better mesh with the needs of their students.

Enlist the help of peers by educating the class on diet restrictions of your child. This can be done is a quick and fun way, maybe showing various common foods that will cause a reaction in your child and then sharing something that all could enjoy. This also gives the opportunity to share what happens if your child does ingest an allergen.

Be a voice at PTA or PTO meetings, raising the need and awareness to have healthier and allergy friendly foods available.

Bring special treats to store in the classroom that your child can have at times when non-acceptable treats are offered.

Ask coaches before the sports season has fully begun if they would mind either eliminating team treats or giving guidelines as to what is acceptable.

This past year my children began at a new school. My oldest has several allergies, including gluten and soy making most cafeteria and classroom snacks/treats off limits. Within a few months his peers understood his restrictions and advocated for him. One of his sports teams opted to not have team snacks, instead using those resources that would have been spent towards trophies and a nice bbq at the end of the season. Another team advocated for healthy snacks.

Many parents are not wanting their kids to be fed all the junk that is handed out in classes, sports, and other random venues (like banks and hair saloons). As parents of children with allergies we can advocate for our kids and also gain support from parents of non-allergy kids who are sick of their kids being fed junk at every turn.

While allergies are hard to deal with I am learning to appreciate how they usually give us a great excuse to eat healthier and be more aware of what we are eating.