Re: Gluten-free kids group/public school

[Guest guest]

dd is 11 and had her 1st day in a new school - middle school. Once again, she is the only celiac in her school. I thought that when I met with the principal in April that all would be smooth sailing in Aug - but they seem to be too busy - soooo you need to take things into your own hands to keep your kids safe.

There is home ech class - they are letting her bring in own food to prepare.

check out the bathroom soap - is it gf?

crumbs in the lunch room is a huge concern for her. i found out that in middle school they are assigned tables to wash and garbage duty. will not be doing that. but she is worried about getting glutened by a classmate waving around a sandwich.

My biggest worry is about her emotional well being - she had sooo many breakdowns in 5th grade. I met with teachers, principal - even the social workers. The bottom line...they feel that lisa needs to adjust emotionally that she will never have reg food. feels different even if everyone is eating a choc cupcake and she is eating a gf choc cupcake - to her it is still different. I got involved in every party, everything. But in a public school you have well meaning parents bringing in treats all the time. One time, a mom thought the kids did so well in the 5th grade play. Said, tommorrow I will bring in krispy kreme donuts. then nudged me and said, and what can I bring in for ? I said gluten free donuts for the whole class. They don't get it. you need to keep educating the school and teachers I was like a leech constantly telling them in detail how felt and how she cried - get this.... was part of a patrol group - they patrol the playground and make sure everyone is playing nice and that everyone that wants to play with someone has someone to play with. It is run by the social workers. After counciling for two months every friday - trying to get her to talk about her feelings about her celiac...the SOCIAL WORKER SAID......get this.......We need to meet for patrol as a group (all the patrol kids) so lets just make it a pizza party...... cried so hard that night....I couldn't beleive that social worker forgot. sat in that meeting with her gf pizza all the while smelling and watching those other kids eat that pizza. ( I told her she didn't have to go, but she didn't want to miss that meeting.

In our schools there is too much food going around in the classrooms. No wonder there is childhood obesity!!

If your child is in school, you need to get involved. I don't know how other celiac children are if they were diagnosed early on....but dd was diagnosed last year, after 3 years of.....it's hypothyroidism, her headaches are from enlarged toncils, they told her after the toncilectomy that it was childhood migraines......, and yes, we were also told, take your daugher to a psychiotrist. She misses that food...but she doesn't want to eat either, it takes her at least 5 days to get rid of her migraines.

check the soap at school!!!

also, they only have 4 minutes to get from class to class, I got them to agree that will not get a detention for being late to class if she is sick from a glutening. and also extra consideration at gym class. It is hard to run around when you feel horrible. I didn't ask about her absences...but if she is really ill, she will stay home.

we are in a support group in Rolling meadows, Illinois for kids.

Still clueless in chicago. Gayle

[Guest guest]

Gayle, My sympathy goes out to you. I have twin sons who were diagnosed a year and a half ago with Celiac. They were fine the first 9 years of life. We never had a clue that there was anything wrong with them. They did not have any symptoms prior to the 6 weeks that they were sick, which led to a very quick diagnosis, thank GOD! They are the only 2 Celiacs at their school that we are aware of. I supply their teacher with a few gf treats (candy) that she can give them if treats are brought into the class without me being notified. Sure, I can whip up a gf cupcake or chocolate chip cookies, but they truly do feel different. This is a very difficult age for them. I have one son who handles being a celiac much better than his brother. I encourage them to eat healthy and they have never cheated thus far. They tell me, "mom, we don't want to have that sort of pain ever again". Raising

celiac children, atleast for us, has been an emotional rollercoaster. I would say that 90% of the time, they handle it all ok, but there comes times that they just get very angry at watching others eat anything that they want. We at home do not eat anything that they cannot. We reserve the right to do so when we are out of our home and they are not with us, which is rare. I must say the teachers at school have been very accomodating in that they will call if something is being brought in to the classroom. They also allow our sons to use the classroom microwave. I just wish a toaster oven was possible at school, but it is a fire hazzard. There would be so many more lunch possibilities if they could use one, of course with adult supervision. Life surely is full of challenges and I have to keep reminding myself and my sons that life could be much worse, but even sometimes that doesn't make their situation any easier

to handle. Isabel in CA Gayle B wrote: dd is 11 and had her 1st day in a new school - middle school. Once again, she is the only celiac in her school. I thought that when I met with the principal in April that all would be smooth sailing in Aug - but they seem to be too busy - soooo you need to take things into your own hands to keep your kids safe. There is home

ech class - they are letting her bring in own food to prepare. check out the bathroom soap - is it gf? crumbs in the lunch room is a huge concern for her. i found out that in middle school they are assigned tables to wash and garbage duty. will not be doing that. but she is worried about getting glutened by a classmate waving around a sandwich. My biggest worry is about her emotional well being - she had sooo many breakdowns in 5th grade. I met with teachers, principal - even the social workers. The bottom line...they feel that lisa needs to adjust emotionally that she will never have reg food. feels different even if everyone is eating a choc cupcake and she is eating a gf choc cupcake - to her it is still different. I got involved in every party, everything. But in a public school you

have well meaning parents bringing in treats all the time. One time, a mom thought the kids did so well in the 5th grade play. Said, tommorrow I will bring in krispy kreme donuts. then nudged me and said, and what can I bring in for ? I said gluten free donuts for the whole class. They don't get it. you need to keep educating the school and teachers I was like a leech constantly telling them in detail how felt and how she cried - get this.... was part of a patrol group - they patrol the playground and make sure everyone is playing nice and that everyone that wants to play with someone has someone to play with. It is run by the social workers. After counciling for two months every friday - trying to get her to talk about her feelings about her celiac...the SOCIAL WORKER SAID......get this.......We need to meet for patrol as a group (all the patrol kids) so lets just make it a pizza party...... cried

so hard that night....I couldn't beleive that social worker forgot. sat in that meeting with her gf pizza all the while smelling and watching those other kids eat that pizza. ( I told her she didn't have to go, but she didn't want to miss that meeting. In our schools there is too much food going around in the classrooms. No wonder there is childhood obesity!! If your child is in school, you need to get involved. I don't know how other celiac children are if they were diagnosed early on....but dd was diagnosed last year, after 3 years of.....it's hypothyroidism, her headaches are from enlarged toncils, they told her after the toncilectomy that it was childhood migraines......, and yes, we were also told, take your daugher to a psychiotrist. She misses that food...but she doesn't want to eat either, it takes her at least

5 days to get rid of her migraines. check the soap at school!!! also, they only have 4 minutes to get from class to class, I got them to agree that will not get a detention for being late to class if she is sick from a glutening. and also extra consideration at gym class. It is hard to run around when you feel horrible. I didn't ask about her absences...but if she is really ill, she will stay home. we are in a support group in Rolling meadows, Illinois for kids. Still clueless in chicago. Gayle

[Guest guest]

Gayle, My sympathy goes out to you. I have twin sons who were diagnosed a year and a half ago with Celiac. They were fine the first 9 years of life. We never had a clue that there was anything wrong with them. They did not have any symptoms prior to the 6 weeks that they were sick, which led to a very quick diagnosis, thank GOD! They are the only 2 Celiacs at their school that we are aware of. I supply their teacher with a few gf treats (candy) that she can give them if treats are brought into the class without me being notified. Sure, I can whip up a gf cupcake or chocolate chip cookies, but they truly do feel different. This is a very difficult age for them. I have one son who handles being a celiac much better than his brother. I encourage them to eat healthy and they have never cheated thus far. They tell me, "mom, we don't want to have that sort of pain ever again". Raising

celiac children, atleast for us, has been an emotional rollercoaster. I would say that 90% of the time, they handle it all ok, but there comes times that they just get very angry at watching others eat anything that they want. We at home do not eat anything that they cannot. We reserve the right to do so when we are out of our home and they are not with us, which is rare. I must say the teachers at school have been very accomodating in that they will call if something is being brought in to the classroom. They also allow our sons to use the classroom microwave. I just wish a toaster oven was possible at school, but it is a fire hazzard. There would be so many more lunch possibilities if they could use one, of course with adult supervision. Life surely is full of challenges and I have to keep reminding myself and my sons that life could be much worse, but even sometimes that doesn't make their situation any easier

to handle. Isabel in CA Gayle B wrote: dd is 11 and had her 1st day in a new school - middle school. Once again, she is the only celiac in her school. I thought that when I met with the principal in April that all would be smooth sailing in Aug - but they seem to be too busy - soooo you need to take things into your own hands to keep your kids safe. There is home

ech class - they are letting her bring in own food to prepare. check out the bathroom soap - is it gf? crumbs in the lunch room is a huge concern for her. i found out that in middle school they are assigned tables to wash and garbage duty. will not be doing that. but she is worried about getting glutened by a classmate waving around a sandwich. My biggest worry is about her emotional well being - she had sooo many breakdowns in 5th grade. I met with teachers, principal - even the social workers. The bottom line...they feel that lisa needs to adjust emotionally that she will never have reg food. feels different even if everyone is eating a choc cupcake and she is eating a gf choc cupcake - to her it is still different. I got involved in every party, everything. But in a public school you

have well meaning parents bringing in treats all the time. One time, a mom thought the kids did so well in the 5th grade play. Said, tommorrow I will bring in krispy kreme donuts. then nudged me and said, and what can I bring in for ? I said gluten free donuts for the whole class. They don't get it. you need to keep educating the school and teachers I was like a leech constantly telling them in detail how felt and how she cried - get this.... was part of a patrol group - they patrol the playground and make sure everyone is playing nice and that everyone that wants to play with someone has someone to play with. It is run by the social workers. After counciling for two months every friday - trying to get her to talk about her feelings about her celiac...the SOCIAL WORKER SAID......get this.......We need to meet for patrol as a group (all the patrol kids) so lets just make it a pizza party...... cried

so hard that night....I couldn't beleive that social worker forgot. sat in that meeting with her gf pizza all the while smelling and watching those other kids eat that pizza. ( I told her she didn't have to go, but she didn't want to miss that meeting. In our schools there is too much food going around in the classrooms. No wonder there is childhood obesity!! If your child is in school, you need to get involved. I don't know how other celiac children are if they were diagnosed early on....but dd was diagnosed last year, after 3 years of.....it's hypothyroidism, her headaches are from enlarged toncils, they told her after the toncilectomy that it was childhood migraines......, and yes, we were also told, take your daugher to a psychiotrist. She misses that food...but she doesn't want to eat either, it takes her at least

5 days to get rid of her migraines. check the soap at school!!! also, they only have 4 minutes to get from class to class, I got them to agree that will not get a detention for being late to class if she is sick from a glutening. and also extra consideration at gym class. It is hard to run around when you feel horrible. I didn't ask about her absences...but if she is really ill, she will stay home. we are in a support group in Rolling meadows, Illinois for kids. Still clueless in chicago. Gayle

[Guest guest]

Gayle, My sympathy goes out to you. I have twin sons who were diagnosed a year and a half ago with Celiac. They were fine the first 9 years of life. We never had a clue that there was anything wrong with them. They did not have any symptoms prior to the 6 weeks that they were sick, which led to a very quick diagnosis, thank GOD! They are the only 2 Celiacs at their school that we are aware of. I supply their teacher with a few gf treats (candy) that she can give them if treats are brought into the class without me being notified. Sure, I can whip up a gf cupcake or chocolate chip cookies, but they truly do feel different. This is a very difficult age for them. I have one son who handles being a celiac much better than his brother. I encourage them to eat healthy and they have never cheated thus far. They tell me, "mom, we don't want to have that sort of pain ever again". Raising

celiac children, atleast for us, has been an emotional rollercoaster. I would say that 90% of the time, they handle it all ok, but there comes times that they just get very angry at watching others eat anything that they want. We at home do not eat anything that they cannot. We reserve the right to do so when we are out of our home and they are not with us, which is rare. I must say the teachers at school have been very accomodating in that they will call if something is being brought in to the classroom. They also allow our sons to use the classroom microwave. I just wish a toaster oven was possible at school, but it is a fire hazzard. There would be so many more lunch possibilities if they could use one, of course with adult supervision. Life surely is full of challenges and I have to keep reminding myself and my sons that life could be much worse, but even sometimes that doesn't make their situation any easier

to handle. Isabel in CA Gayle B wrote: dd is 11 and had her 1st day in a new school - middle school. Once again, she is the only celiac in her school. I thought that when I met with the principal in April that all would be smooth sailing in Aug - but they seem to be too busy - soooo you need to take things into your own hands to keep your kids safe. There is home

ech class - they are letting her bring in own food to prepare. check out the bathroom soap - is it gf? crumbs in the lunch room is a huge concern for her. i found out that in middle school they are assigned tables to wash and garbage duty. will not be doing that. but she is worried about getting glutened by a classmate waving around a sandwich. My biggest worry is about her emotional well being - she had sooo many breakdowns in 5th grade. I met with teachers, principal - even the social workers. The bottom line...they feel that lisa needs to adjust emotionally that she will never have reg food. feels different even if everyone is eating a choc cupcake and she is eating a gf choc cupcake - to her it is still different. I got involved in every party, everything. But in a public school you

have well meaning parents bringing in treats all the time. One time, a mom thought the kids did so well in the 5th grade play. Said, tommorrow I will bring in krispy kreme donuts. then nudged me and said, and what can I bring in for ? I said gluten free donuts for the whole class. They don't get it. you need to keep educating the school and teachers I was like a leech constantly telling them in detail how felt and how she cried - get this.... was part of a patrol group - they patrol the playground and make sure everyone is playing nice and that everyone that wants to play with someone has someone to play with. It is run by the social workers. After counciling for two months every friday - trying to get her to talk about her feelings about her celiac...the SOCIAL WORKER SAID......get this.......We need to meet for patrol as a group (all the patrol kids) so lets just make it a pizza party...... cried

so hard that night....I couldn't beleive that social worker forgot. sat in that meeting with her gf pizza all the while smelling and watching those other kids eat that pizza. ( I told her she didn't have to go, but she didn't want to miss that meeting. In our schools there is too much food going around in the classrooms. No wonder there is childhood obesity!! If your child is in school, you need to get involved. I don't know how other celiac children are if they were diagnosed early on....but dd was diagnosed last year, after 3 years of.....it's hypothyroidism, her headaches are from enlarged toncils, they told her after the toncilectomy that it was childhood migraines......, and yes, we were also told, take your daugher to a psychiotrist. She misses that food...but she doesn't want to eat either, it takes her at least

5 days to get rid of her migraines. check the soap at school!!! also, they only have 4 minutes to get from class to class, I got them to agree that will not get a detention for being late to class if she is sick from a glutening. and also extra consideration at gym class. It is hard to run around when you feel horrible. I didn't ask about her absences...but if she is really ill, she will stay home. we are in a support group in Rolling meadows, Illinois for kids. Still clueless in chicago. Gayle

[Guest guest]

Hey Gayle,

Do you go to the gluten free gang meetings? My name

is Kendra. I have two children ages 8 (son) and 4

(daughter) that have celiac. We have gone to two of

the meetings. Hopefully, we'll have another one soon.

My children are the only diagnosed celiac children in

our schools. My sons teacher so far has been

fantastic, compared to the teacher he had last year.

She suggested (without me bringing it up) that we

leave cupcakes in the freezer at the school for

surprise treat days. She also has GF candy and

pudding for him to eat if need be. She has asked to

read some of my books and inquired about websites. I

am ecstatic!! My daughter's preschool called today to

let me know that the soap they use is iffy, so she

asked me to bring in soap for hand washing. I feel

like through all my vocalizing and teaching my

children to constantly question foods and products

that we are going to have a great year. I DO wish

however that there wasn't food in the schools for

every single occasion.. What about fruits and veggies?

Good Luck to all at the beginning of the new school

year!! Stay healthy!

Kendra

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Hey Gayle,

Do you go to the gluten free gang meetings? My name

is Kendra. I have two children ages 8 (son) and 4

(daughter) that have celiac. We have gone to two of

the meetings. Hopefully, we'll have another one soon.

My children are the only diagnosed celiac children in

our schools. My sons teacher so far has been

fantastic, compared to the teacher he had last year.

She suggested (without me bringing it up) that we

leave cupcakes in the freezer at the school for

surprise treat days. She also has GF candy and

pudding for him to eat if need be. She has asked to

read some of my books and inquired about websites. I

am ecstatic!! My daughter's preschool called today to

let me know that the soap they use is iffy, so she

asked me to bring in soap for hand washing. I feel

like through all my vocalizing and teaching my

children to constantly question foods and products

that we are going to have a great year. I DO wish

however that there wasn't food in the schools for

every single occasion.. What about fruits and veggies?

Good Luck to all at the beginning of the new school

year!! Stay healthy!

Kendra

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Hey Gayle,

Do you go to the gluten free gang meetings? My name

is Kendra. I have two children ages 8 (son) and 4

(daughter) that have celiac. We have gone to two of

the meetings. Hopefully, we'll have another one soon.

My children are the only diagnosed celiac children in

our schools. My sons teacher so far has been

fantastic, compared to the teacher he had last year.

She suggested (without me bringing it up) that we

leave cupcakes in the freezer at the school for

surprise treat days. She also has GF candy and

pudding for him to eat if need be. She has asked to

read some of my books and inquired about websites. I

am ecstatic!! My daughter's preschool called today to

let me know that the soap they use is iffy, so she

asked me to bring in soap for hand washing. I feel

like through all my vocalizing and teaching my

children to constantly question foods and products

that we are going to have a great year. I DO wish

however that there wasn't food in the schools for

every single occasion.. What about fruits and veggies?

Good Luck to all at the beginning of the new school

year!! Stay healthy!

Kendra

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

I am sorry to read that your daughter is having such a hard time at school.

Both my daughters (10 & 6) are coeliac. I've met with both their teachers and the principle. And the principle in turn has met with the teachers. So far so good. The 10 year olds teacher is a bit of a lost cause, everything just goes over her head, BUT complaining to the principle about her does wonders. She seems to think that my daughter is now OK now that she is eating GF, and that she can eat wheat when she wants. We have set her straight. My state coeliac society has a handbook and in it are a couple of pages for schools and teachers. I copied these and gave them to the principle and he gave them to the teachers and they discussed what was written. Are you a member of a state society, would they be able to give you some info for the school? Regarding the number of treats being handed out, you really need to stress to the teacher and principle how important being GF is, and that NO GLUTEN is acceptable. Maybe you could supply the teacher with a bag of GF chocolate frogs or such, that could be used when treats are brought in. Our teachers have brought these themselves. Which is good for me.

Biggest problem we have had at school is with fill in teachers handing out treats.. So now they are putting a page into the roll book with my kids photo, name, my contact numbers and info about Coeliac, so that every teacher coming into the class roomknows what is going on. The school has bend over backwards to help. But we are a small catholic school and that probably helps (150 students!!). Everybody knows everybody. We also don't have shared lunches, or canteens like you do in the USA. Every child brings their own lunch everyday. And lunch can only be ordered on Friday's. They eat in their classrooms with their teachers.

Both my kids have adjusted very well. The eldest doesn't miss any of the "gluten" food, because as she says "now what ever she eats doesn't make her sick". The youngest is doing well, but misses her porriage, and she doesn't like rice porriage. They are both trying some new foods. And they both have a positive attutude, which helps greatly. They understand that the GF diet is for life. They also don't like having a big fuss made about the coeliac - this will only cause problems. I also find that I make everything myself, and get them to help when they can. And I also will ask them some mornings about the evening meal, asking them to choose something. They take turns, and it gives them some control over what they are eating. The next step is getting the eldest to start some easy cooking.

.

[Guest guest]

Hi Kendra,

I met you at the gf gang meeting in rolling meadows, but we were not at the morkes choc factory thing because my daughter is still dairy free as well. I was also the person you met up with in great low carb foods. This site has helped me tremendeously, you all make me laugh, when I really want to cry. It took so long for our diagnoisis and each dr just explained each symptom away. Now things are much better. All of you, have helped me bring in more choices into our house. We are great on choices she takes to school, and she knows she has to deal with the food in the cafeteria - she has issues with all the extra food that is brought in......pizza parties, donut parties (this one's for you Lori) a "fart puddy", door decorating contests winners, star of the week, or let's just torture with icecream party (she still cannot have dairy) there is food coming in to the classroom everyday. That was in elementary school. I hope it is better in Jr. High. Although dd has been the only one diagnosed, I plan on getting us all tested soon. $$$ is always an issue with the added cost of gf food. I have been listening to debates on this site as well as others about enterolab. Are they credible? why would anyone question their results? and why wouldn't dr's take these seriously? I have been gf df for a year now - I do it for my daughter - is that going to interfere with test results? I read on their site that levels will decrease over time - is my time up???

sincerely, Gayle

clueless in chicago

[Guest guest]

Hi Kendra,

I met you at the gf gang meeting in rolling meadows, but we were not at the morkes choc factory thing because my daughter is still dairy free as well. I was also the person you met up with in great low carb foods. This site has helped me tremendeously, you all make me laugh, when I really want to cry. It took so long for our diagnoisis and each dr just explained each symptom away. Now things are much better. All of you, have helped me bring in more choices into our house. We are great on choices she takes to school, and she knows she has to deal with the food in the cafeteria - she has issues with all the extra food that is brought in......pizza parties, donut parties (this one's for you Lori) a "fart puddy", door decorating contests winners, star of the week, or let's just torture with icecream party (she still cannot have dairy) there is food coming in to the classroom everyday. That was in elementary school. I hope it is better in Jr. High. Although dd has been the only one diagnosed, I plan on getting us all tested soon. $$$ is always an issue with the added cost of gf food. I have been listening to debates on this site as well as others about enterolab. Are they credible? why would anyone question their results? and why wouldn't dr's take these seriously? I have been gf df for a year now - I do it for my daughter - is that going to interfere with test results? I read on their site that levels will decrease over time - is my time up???

sincerely, Gayle

clueless in chicago

[Guest guest]

Hi Kendra,

I met you at the gf gang meeting in rolling meadows, but we were not at the morkes choc factory thing because my daughter is still dairy free as well. I was also the person you met up with in great low carb foods. This site has helped me tremendeously, you all make me laugh, when I really want to cry. It took so long for our diagnoisis and each dr just explained each symptom away. Now things are much better. All of you, have helped me bring in more choices into our house. We are great on choices she takes to school, and she knows she has to deal with the food in the cafeteria - she has issues with all the extra food that is brought in......pizza parties, donut parties (this one's for you Lori) a "fart puddy", door decorating contests winners, star of the week, or let's just torture with icecream party (she still cannot have dairy) there is food coming in to the classroom everyday. That was in elementary school. I hope it is better in Jr. High. Although dd has been the only one diagnosed, I plan on getting us all tested soon. $$$ is always an issue with the added cost of gf food. I have been listening to debates on this site as well as others about enterolab. Are they credible? why would anyone question their results? and why wouldn't dr's take these seriously? I have been gf df for a year now - I do it for my daughter - is that going to interfere with test results? I read on their site that levels will decrease over time - is my time up???

sincerely, Gayle

clueless in chicago