What is a Peanut Free School?

So far so good. Mac has been in school for a month now and everything is going great. I check the snack every time before class, and he comes with me to "help". Now he even asks if it has peanuts in it as I read the ingredients. If it's not safe I tell him, and he's ok with having his own special snack. We've had one party and he had his own cupcake. Again he was fine with it. The funny thing is, the other kids want what he's having. The teacher is doing a great job teaching the kids not to share or take each others food. I love that she is turning his allergy into a teaching opportunity. That's a good teacher.

So what is a Peanut free school I ask? His school is peanut free, yet we've had to say no to a number of snacks. Mostly cookies. They get snacks that are processed on the same equipment or facility as peanuts or tree nuts. To me that's not peanut free, but to them it is.

I'm not asking them to change their policy, but did ask about it. The answer I got bothers me. I was told that it's just a disclaimer and that if they had to find snacks that didn't have this warning, the kids wouldn't have anything to eat. Um so why is there a huge bag of snacks for my kid in his classroom? There are tons of things for him to eat that are safe.

While it's true some companies put it on their products as a disclaimer, others don't. Again I'm not asking for a change. I just think they need to revise their peanut free statement. It creates a false sense of security. I know every parent has to make the choice of what is safe and not safe for their food allergic child. In our family shared equipment or facilities are not acceptable. He is still too young for us to take that chance especially when not with us. For other families theses things are ok. I'm not judging at all. It's each families choice.

Next month there are 7 birthdays in his class. I'm going to bake a batch of cupcakes and freeze them. This way I'm prepared!

What is a Peanut Free School?