When you are the parent of a food allergic child the stories of school food bullying can be frightening. We all know children can be mean, but when it involves threatening another child with their allergen words can not describe the severity of this type of situation.
The media likes to play up the “scary” parts of food allergy life. Rarely we hear about the stories of true friendship and support.
Today I volunteered in my food allergic son’s class as a reading helper. Each child chooses a book and spends a few precious moments reading with me. While I was waiting for a child to pick out his book another classmate came up to me to say, “we have to be careful with J, he has food allergies. Sometimes my mom packs me peanut butter for lunch and I sit as far away from him as I can to keep him safe.”
I smiled and thanked her for being such a great friend.
My son is only 6 and is in first grade. My hope is that as these children grow up together they’ll continue their support of each other and will grow into compassionate and understanding adults. Today this little girl showed me that it is possible.
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