I received a call from my daughter today while I was at work. She was calling from the school office wanting to know if I could bring her a sandwich. Huh?
Me: "What happened to your sandwich?"
Daughter: "I had to throw it away."
Me (thinking the cheese was mouldy or something): "Why?"
Daughter: "So and so is allergic to peanuts."
Me: "So?"
Daughter: "Mom, can you just bring me a sandwich please?"
Me: "No, sorry, I'm working. You will have to eat the rest of your food and have a sandwich when you get home."
Daughter: "OK. Bye."
Click.
Are you fucking kidding me? One kid is allergic to peanuts so the whole class suffers? Why doesn't that kid go eat somewhere else? Why doesn't its parents teach it not to eat other people's food or lick the desks in the classroom? Call me insensitive but I am so tired of the majority having to bend over backwards for the minority.
When I was a kid these rules didn't exist. I knew a few kids with allergies and they just had to be careful. Granted, there weren't as many kids with food allergies back then as there are now. According to the internets, peanut allergies have doubled in last twenty years. Wow. Why, you ask? I've no idea and neither do the internets. Some attribute it to premature exposure (before two years old) to peanuts and peanut products. Some say it's the fault of the peanut eating, breastfeeding mother and others say it could be from feeding your baby solids before four months of age. Regardless of all this, nobody really knows.
So there is my kid, sandwichless, hungry and probably unable to concentrate because one kid can't control its urges to french kiss the sandwich container my daughter brought to school. Yes, this is how absurd this seems to me. Why my daughter couldn't go outside to eat is beyond my comprehension and apparently that of the school. If it's such an issue, why weren't the classroom parents notified at the beginning of the school year? What happens if PBJ is all a household can afford? Deli meat and cheese can get pretty costly sometimes. What about the costs I incurred for that sandwich that was ruthlessly thrown in the garbage?
Dear Parents,
Start taking responsibility for your own kids and stop expecting everybody else to do it for you. Your kid has an allergy? Fine. Teach him/her how to avoid the situation and how to use an epi-pen. They are going to encounter peanuts and peanut products in almost every social situation involving food and not everybody is going to be as PC as an elementary school. Teach them early and teach them well because if one more of MY sandwiches gets thrown away, you'll have me on your doorstep teaching your kids for you. You think they have bad dreams now? Just wait, I'll give them nightmares in no time.
Sincerely
OQA
Oh... you thought I meant the food didn't you?
Me: "What happened to your sandwich?"
Daughter: "I had to throw it away."
Me (thinking the cheese was mouldy or something): "Why?"
Daughter: "So and so is allergic to peanuts."
Me: "So?"
Daughter: "Mom, can you just bring me a sandwich please?"
Me: "No, sorry, I'm working. You will have to eat the rest of your food and have a sandwich when you get home."
Daughter: "OK. Bye."
Click.
Are you fucking kidding me? One kid is allergic to peanuts so the whole class suffers? Why doesn't that kid go eat somewhere else? Why doesn't its parents teach it not to eat other people's food or lick the desks in the classroom? Call me insensitive but I am so tired of the majority having to bend over backwards for the minority.
When I was a kid these rules didn't exist. I knew a few kids with allergies and they just had to be careful. Granted, there weren't as many kids with food allergies back then as there are now. According to the internets, peanut allergies have doubled in last twenty years. Wow. Why, you ask? I've no idea and neither do the internets. Some attribute it to premature exposure (before two years old) to peanuts and peanut products. Some say it's the fault of the peanut eating, breastfeeding mother and others say it could be from feeding your baby solids before four months of age. Regardless of all this, nobody really knows.
So there is my kid, sandwichless, hungry and probably unable to concentrate because one kid can't control its urges to french kiss the sandwich container my daughter brought to school. Yes, this is how absurd this seems to me. Why my daughter couldn't go outside to eat is beyond my comprehension and apparently that of the school. If it's such an issue, why weren't the classroom parents notified at the beginning of the school year? What happens if PBJ is all a household can afford? Deli meat and cheese can get pretty costly sometimes. What about the costs I incurred for that sandwich that was ruthlessly thrown in the garbage?
Dear Parents,
Start taking responsibility for your own kids and stop expecting everybody else to do it for you. Your kid has an allergy? Fine. Teach him/her how to avoid the situation and how to use an epi-pen. They are going to encounter peanuts and peanut products in almost every social situation involving food and not everybody is going to be as PC as an elementary school. Teach them early and teach them well because if one more of MY sandwiches gets thrown away, you'll have me on your doorstep teaching your kids for you. You think they have bad dreams now? Just wait, I'll give them nightmares in no time.
Sincerely
OQA
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