No one likes to feel excluded. This is especially true when you are six.
The kindergarten class is having an event for Thanksgiving. They will be serving items like corn bread, popcorn, and some type of pumpkin cookie or pie. In accordance with school policy, they sent home a form letter to all of the parents who indicated that their child had some type of allergy. It stated that these children would not be allowed to eat what the class was eating and that we should prepare an alternate plate for our child.
I understand why they are doing it. Food allergies are no laughing matter. Our objection is to the severity issue. Our son's peanut allergy is mild. It is so mild that our pediatrician actually refuses to write a prescription for an epi-pen because the trauma of the shot will be more serious than the allergic reaction! Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any kind of waiver that we can sign that would allow our son to participate with the rest of his class.
The poor teacher is serving as our intermediary in all of this. I know that she is just enforcing school policy. I would imagine that the school nurse is doing the same. It is often easier to use flat rules that allow for no interpretation because then there is no thinking involved. It becomes a black-or-white issue. Still, I hold out hope that sanity might prevail.
On a lighter note, my older boy has different issues that require discretion. He is beginning to become conscious of style decisions. It actually started in kindergarten. His backpack broke and we sent him in with Thomas the Train. The other kids made fun of him. We quickly upgraded him to a Transformers backpack and that minor issue was quickly forgotten.
Yesterday's issue was a little different. Mom had picked out a t-shirt with Tigger on it. He reluctantly agreed to wear it. When he was asked why he didn't want to wear Tigger, he replied, "It's about socialization!"
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