Food Allergies and Field Trips: What's a parent to do?

My son is five years old and in Kindergarten. They are going on a field trip downtown to three separate locations for the entire school day (and then some!). I've asked to chaperon. But there may not be room for me to go. Letting my food allergy child go on a field trip 45 minutes away, with people who either don't understand food allergies or who only marginally understand them is outside of my comfort zone. My son not only reacts if he eats something, but he's also contact reactive. If I can't go, he isn't going either. Am I being too overprotective?

It's a fine line of being overprotective and of not being protective enough. I teeter on that line but sometimes I find myself falling off of it (on both sides) and I worry about how it affects my son. I don't want to stifle his activities because I worry too much. But I also don't want to put him in harms way because I'm trying so hard to make him fit in and feel "normal" that I'm not putting his health concerns at the top of the list.

How do you find a balance in situations like this? How do you know that you are doing the right thing and not over or under reacting?

FAAN has some tips on taking field trips with food allergies.

It seems Ruth from Best Allergy Sites had a similar situation in December and her post about the field trips has some great suggestions in the comments from other food allergy parents (and this post makes me feel better about my decision).

And Education.com has tips for advocating for your food allergic child in school.

Is this something that you've had to deal with as a food allergy parent? How did you handle it? I'd love to hear any tips or suggestions that have worked for you or your community.

Tags: advocating, allergies, asthma, balance, field trips, food allergies, parenting, school

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Comment by Ruth LovettSmith on April 21, 2010 at 3:47pm: Janeen-

How I completely understand what you are going through!

I did end up going on the field trip and 1. felt better about it 2. did not feel bad about what some might think of as "OVER reacting."

You know just as well as I do that no one can truly know what can or will happen on a field trip. The final decision for me came down to this:

If something did happen and my son had to go to the hospital, what would happen?

I didn't get a good answer or feeling from the school, so I went.

My son is contact reactive as well and when I had called the venue they said the could not guarantee there would not be traces of food as students do/did eat in the auditorium.

It taught me an important lesson. Our school plan had some kinks that needed to be worked out.

In the future I will still always go on the trip regardless of whether it appears as though I am over reacting. If for some reason I can not go, I will require that an EpiPen trained nurse go in the event my son has a reaction and needs to go to the hospital. It's my opinion that no child should have to ride to the hospital alone.

Worse case scenario, I go and wait in the parking lot, lobby etc.

This might not be the right plan for all families or all children, but it's one that works for mine. It's easy for others to pass judgment and call this type of set up over reacting, but I don't worry about that.

No one knows how to keep my child as safe as I do. No one knows him and his needs as well as I do.

That's what gets me through the school battles. :)

Best of luck whatever you decide!
Ruth

Comment by Janeen on April 22, 2010 at 10:11am: Thanks so much for your response Ruth!

I think our school plan has some kinks too. I thought I had everything covered but this was an "unplanned" field trip that I was unable to sign up for in advance.

Although I feel badly about over reacting, I'd feel much worse about under reacting. I just read an article today about a boy that is highly, highly contact reactive. The mom said that she never wanted to be a helicopter mom, but her son's condition forces her to have to "hover". I feel the same way :)

Comment by concerned dad on May 3, 2010 at 1:15am: It doesn't sound like you are over-reacting at all. In fact, I'd be insisting that they MAKE ROOM for me to go! Do you have any plans in place with your school? We don't have a 504 yet, but we do have a health care plan. And ours states "parents will be encouraged to go on all field trips." I know that is pretty common language in plans for kids with allergies. I interpret that to mean you there should ALWAYS be a spot for you, even if that means bumping another chaperon. Unfortunately, I've learned the hard way that in today's public schools, you have to stand up for what you want regardless of what people think. And this is coming from someone who is normally very quiet, passive and easygoing.

Comment by Janeen on May 3, 2010 at 7:17am: Thanks for your comment concerned dad,
We do not have a 504 yet either. We are in a small private school and haven't needed one... Yet.
The field trip actually worked out well. I was able to go so crisis was averted on this one. BUT there is another one at the end of the month that historically NO parental chaperones go on or are allowed to go on. I'm going to request a meeting with the school to discuss all of this. Because my child has special needs I feel special consideration needs to take place. Wish me luck with this one! I'm hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

Comment by concerned dad on May 3, 2010 at 9:23am: Good luck. It's sad that us parents of food-allergic children have to work so hard to keep our children safe in school. At least know that you are not alone! Make sure to educate yourself on the laws and guidelines in your state. I live in CT, and just found out that state guidelines suggest (but unfortunately do not mandate) that parents of food-allergic children and school nurses be involved in the planning of the field trip. I plan on pushing to have language to that effect put into our next health care plan. Connecticut food allergy guidelines also suggest that parents should be encouraged to go on all field trips. Maybe your state has something similar? Even if it is not a law, an official recommendation from your state board of ed should buy you some leverage.

Comment by Janeen on May 3, 2010 at 9:36am: Thank you. I will definitely look into that. I also saw your post about the "ice cream". I'm not that familiar with 504 plans so I haven't commented yet (I have a lot of emotional comments to make, but not much constructive comments). But I "tweeted" the link and asked for help from the food allergy community. Hopefully you'll get some good advice soon.

Food Allergies and Field Trips: What's a parent to do?

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