Re: Vent -- only 8 days of kindergarten and they already fed him gluten

September 16, 2004

Phoebe,

We have experienced one school related incident too. Hang in

there. Our daughter could not return to school for about 10 days

(extreme reaction) when it happened. I think the school clearly got

the picture after that. We were still using PullUps at the time,

and went through a whole ton of them.

Hange in there!

Melonie

> So frustrating - even after giving the teacher the detailed letter

> example that I found so helpful here on the site. In it I tried

to

> provide a list to the teacher, clearly marking it SOME of the

> forbidden foods, and to call with any questions, but did not

include

> caramel coloring on the list.

>

> I asked the teacher only to allow him snacks from his separate

snack

> box until I had a chance to go through all the snacks and mark

them

> up to see which were ok. Yesterday, I went in to school, checked

> over all the snacks, and left a list of both which were OK and

which

> were NOT OK, with the caramel corn on the NOT OK list. Of course,

> today I get a call from the school nurse saying he had been fed

the

> caramel corn, and that he had " only eaten one bite " before they

> figured out the problem and switched him back to one of his

special

> snacks.

>

> Obviously, I need to talk further with the teacher, but I was

> wondering if I am on the wrong track with allowing him to eat

group

> snacks if they are on a gluten-free list prepared by me? Is this

> likely just a new-to-school issue? His teacher has many years of

> experience, but I don't know about the assistant, or who was in

> charge of the snack. I am not allowed to provide snacks to the

> other members of the class because of another student who has a

> severe nut allergy. How often have others' children been fed

gluten

> at school by accident? Thanks for letting me vent!!

September 16, 2004

I pack my Son’s

snacks (he is also in kindergarten). Ultimately, I don’t trust anyone to

make competent decisions about food my Son can or cannot eat anymore. I’ve

had too many experiences proving you can’t put your faith in people to “get

it right”, no matter how much information you give them.

A problem arose for

us when a substitute taught his class, after the sudden death of the teacher’s

husband. The teacher was to create a folder containing class info (including

info about my Son) for a substitute. The folder was never created. The Substitute

had no idea of his situation, when she tried to feed him animal crackers. I

taught my Son to NEVER accept food from another adult, except me. It has worked

well so far, he refused the animal crackers, telling the substitute that they

had gluten.

It’s a sad

fact, but we need to find a way to protect our Celiac kids. They should be

protected by the school staff, but in reality, it doesn’t always happen.

Good luck...I

hope you don’t have any other “incidences” at school this

year.

September 16, 2004

We also have a daughter in kindergarten. I was very concerned after a few days at school when I still didn't feel the teacher "got it." A few of the comments she made to me made me feel unsure that she understood the seriousness of the Celiac diet and the wide variety of foods that could contain gluten. And this was after we had met w/ her and the school nurse as well as a detailed letter!

I decided to handle it by making it a point to stop in the classroom EVERY morning to ask what the day's snack would be. We had provided a snack box with alternative snacks, but by stopping in every day and talking with the teacher, it really put my daughter and her diet on the teacher's "radar screen." She had to think about it every day because I was there asking about it. And I really feel like it made a difference without being a "pushy" parent. I didn't fuss or make a big deal if our daughter couldn't eat the same snack as everyone else. We were ready w/ the snack box. But if she could eat the same thing, I let the teacher know.

We've been in school for over a month now, so I don't stop in every day anymore; but I do find that our teacher is the one asking me to look over snacks other parents have recently brought in rather than the other way around. Our teacher has also been around for a long time, but we were her first student with Celiac Disease (of course:)). Hang in there and keep working at it. It can be frustrating, disappointing, etc., but I try to handle it in a positive way at first.

And if all else fails, I'll be the "pushy" parent...

Tampa Bay ROCK

September 16, 2004

,

Your scenario is EXACTLY what we're doing at our daughter's pre-

school. (I talked with everyone there several times, etc. in a

polite & informative way). The actual snack part of things seems to

be going okay. I do the same exact thing you do. We supplied a GF

rubbermaid container with a whole variety of non-parishable GF

items, and I always bring cheesesticks and yogurt every morning to

have in the fridge. Since I have to get our first grade son to

school at the same time, we always arrive " fashionably " late by

about 20 minutes to the pre-school. By that time, the kids are

almost ready to start circle time. The asst. teacher shows me the

snack for the day (provided by other parents), and then I give her

the " okay " or " not, " and if it's not a safe treat, I help her choose

a similiar treat from what we have in the stash.

The potential sharing of foods is still of concern to me and a few

other things... Our daughter is starting to learn more gluten

terminology and can point to things in the grocery store that

contain gluten. It is getting easier, and I'm glad she's learning

more about her diet and speaks about it. But as mommies and

daddies... we still worry, especially when they're small.

-- In SillyYaks , " Ransdell " <melrans@t...>

wrote:

> We also have a daughter in kindergarten. I was very concerned

after a few days at school when I still didn't feel the teacher " got

it. " A few of the comments she made to me made me feel unsure that

she understood the seriousness of the Celiac diet and the wide

variety of foods that could contain gluten. And this was after we

had met w/ her and the school nurse as well as a detailed letter!

>

> I decided to handle it by making it a point to stop in the

classroom EVERY morning to ask what the day's snack would be. We

had provided a snack box with alternative snacks, but by stopping in

every day and talking with the teacher, it really put my daughter

and her diet on the teacher's " radar screen. " She had to think

about it every day because I was there asking about it. And I

really feel like it made a difference without being a " pushy "

parent. I didn't fuss or make a big deal if our daughter couldn't

eat the same snack as everyone else. We were ready w/ the snack

box. But if she could eat the same thing, I let the teacher know.

>

> We've been in school for over a month now, so I don't stop in

every day anymore; but I do find that our teacher is the one asking

me to look over snacks other parents have recently brought in rather

than the other way around. Our teacher has also been around for a

long time, but we were her first student with Celiac Disease (of

course:)). Hang in there and keep working at it. It can be

frustrating, disappointing, etc., but I try to handle it in a

positive way at first.

>

> And if all else fails, I'll be the " pushy " parent...

>

> Tampa Bay ROCK

September 16, 2004