Kindy food restrictions - would you be annoyed?

[TwoDarlingGirls]

Nutalex is a much better option than any other marg out there. No colours and no preservatives.

But in saying that, you don't have a whole lot of options, but there are quite a lot of vegan options out there (as that's what I make for DDs lunches). Muffins can be made easily without dairy milk(you could use oat or rice milks) and egg substitutes include chia seeds, flax seeds, apple sauce even mashed bananas.

It would be worth having a look on Pinterest. I get all my vegan recipes from there and there's a whole of of options available.

While DD was at Kindy there were one child who was anaphylactic to egg, but there wasn't a blanket ban on it. The teachers preferred self management on the instance of the child and close monitoring by the teachers.

[BMW]

DS2 is anaphylactic to dairy and egg. He starts 4 yr old kinder this year and the director approached me last year to ask what I wanted to happen. I appreciated that they wanted my input, but I feel like I have to teach DS2 that he can't eat others food. They decided that they wouldn't go dairy free, but would ask parents not to include yogurt in lunch boxes. I tried to argue that I was fine with it but they worry about some being smeared on something that DS will touch and he'll have a reaction. They said I might be understanding and fine with it, but they didn't feel comfortable that if he did have a reaction having to use his Epi pen in front of the kids (they are comfortable using the epi pen, just feel that the kids would be more traumatised seeing him having a reaction than going without yogurt a few hrs a day).

I get their point of view and maybe I am worried about upsetting the other parents, but I also feel like its only a few hours a day and surely their kids can have yogurt at home as a snack so that the teachers feel comfortable that my son is safe in their environment.

I also want to point out that I don't really think there should be food bans. Maybe if he reacted just by touch (like he did when he was younger) then i'd be a bit more concerned, but i feel like its my responsibility to teach him that he can't take food from people without checking with me or his dad first. I have a 4 year old that will ask people who try to give him food "does it have dairy or egg? what about cheese?" He has been asking these questions since he was 2.5. If they don't know he won't eat it and most times he won't take the food even if they do tell him it doesn't until he gets the ok from me or DH. One day he is going to be away from me and someone will offer him something. He needs to know that he has to check these things.

If it was me, i'd check with the kinder. All dairy?

[Beautiful Disaster]

We have no egg and no nuts but our food is supplied by the centre

[Rouge]

Doesn't annoy me in the slightest. And different years at kinder were the same. With two children. And each school year has been different depending on who is in the class.

It's really not that hard. But if it's difficult for you send then elsewhere. But I'll never understand why people get angry about it. If a child was disabled in some way you would expect the school to work with that child. If a child was on the spectrum you would expect the school to work with the child. I see this as no different. The kinder sent home a list of appropriate snacks, both store bought and recipes for things to make at home. The list was huge. And no I don't think this child should be disadvantaged because of their food issues. I would say the same for immune suppressed children and those wig special needs. There is a huge difference between life threatening allergies and food intolerances.

[wysiwyg]

I think whether or not it would annoy me would depend on the way it was handled. I think blanket bans are not appropriate, and should be appropriate for the individual situation. I would expect that the kinder send home a detailed list of snacks etc, because if it is a life threatening issue then it is vital that the parents all get it right, and expecting people to without giving detailed guidance isn't really acceptable.

[Ladylove]

I've been thinking some more about this, from the (very biased) perspective of a mother of a child with two severe allergies. I would feel very comfortable with a widespread food ban that covered my child's own allergies and it would influence which kindy I chose and which I passed by. That said I am not already involved in a particular kindy that has made changes to their existing policy, which would be hard.

I do think that alternative solutions such as only limit food types in the class/room/of the allergic child don't work because kids share stuff, swap stuff in the playground, they are little squirrels who store stuff in their pockets for later on... Also, and again my perspective is biased, if a child has a severe allergy then it doesn't matter what form or quantity the allergen takes. With DD's egg allergy she cannot even have a crumb from a muffin baked in a dozen lot with just one egg.

It is hard for all parties, allergic and otherwise. I think the extreme rise in allergies in a relatively short period means care givers are caught on the hop... Still working out the best approach that will protect yet foster inclusiveness rather than isolation.

ETA- yes, I think educating the child to protect themselves is paramount. DD is not quite 2 and I talk to her often about why she cannot eat certain things. But they are still so little even at 4 and 5 years old. it is easy to teach them to recognise and say no to say a milk drink or a snickers bar but they can be confused or distracted by something that looks innocent.

[Rouge]

In this case I'm assuming it's not a blanket rule. The OP states clearly the reason is due to children who have allergies. Food is very hard to contain, depending on age. With small children and hygiene (as you'll know with colds etc and how quickly they pass on) it's problematic. And I seriously doubt anyone would have the time to clean every surface after feeding times, including floors and chairs. Which is often why kinder's have stricter rules than primary school (aside from nut allergies all other allergies are specific to the classroom) and in most cases in high school it's up to the individual to keep safe.

[Ladylove]

Ah sorry I thought I read blanket ban. I'm also looking at things from the perspective of a younger child, as is my own experience.

[luna moth]

We're a vegan family and I wouldn't have any problem with that. We're already dairy and egg free and our play group is nut free, so it's not a big deviation from normal for us. Some of our non- baked lunchbox snacks are:
Veggie sticks and hommus/pumpkin dip/babaganoush
Baked beans
Roasted sweet potato or pumpkin cubes
Sugar snap peas
Cucumber rounds
Bliss balls (we use sunflower seed and oats)
Coconut yoghurt (home made but if this is too hard, make coconut custard with custard powder, or buy some)
Bread sticks (spiced baked sandwich crusts)

For sticking together a sandwich there are heaps of options. We use Nuttelex, if we're having vegemite, otherwise not. Hommus, sunflower butter, almost any Vegie purée, and lots of bean based dips. I make it up as i go along! They freeze well.

[surprised]

Such a hard situation!

I can understand how stressful it must be to have little ones with allergies, especially life-threatening ones.

But to have such tight restrictions makes everyone's life so difficult. And it's not like it's a one-off event - it's every day they are at kinder. A lot of the substitutes have undesirable chemicals (like nuttlex) or are really expensive (rice milk). And children need the opportunity to have a balanced diet.

I think as a bare minimum the kindy should be providing a detailed list of nutritionally balanced alternatives. But if it was me personally, I'd leave because it is just so hard.

Incidentally, the strange thing is that there is no way they can guarantee an allergen-free environment. People are bound to make mistakes. I wonder if it is more about liability than anything else?

[wysiwyg]

Incidentally, the strange thing is that there is no way they can guarantee an allergen-free environment. People are bound to make mistakes. I wonder if it is more about liability than anything else?

I think this is part of it, we probably all know adults who have severe anaphalytic reactions to nuts (I do, and also to seafood) but there were never any food bans when they were children, the main difference is that attitudes towards liability are very different now.

[feeb]

A friends son has a massive list of allergies and many are anaphylaxis (egg, wheat, dairy, shell fish, nuts, beef, bannanna and more), so bad that if he gets kissed by someone who has eaten say cheezels he comes up in welts on face and at his kinder they did not stop others taking things. They all knew of his allergies and were very careful and kids are not allowed to walk around when eating, share and must always wash hands before and after eating and they had NO issues with him all last year in 3 yr old kinder (went 2 days a week). They even made playdoh that was allergy free so he could use it.

Kinder DS1 was at last year had the usual nut free and egg free but that was it. Was just no quiche and egg sandwich could still have egg in baked goods etc.

[nickle730]

Firstly, I would clarify whether the bans are due to an allergy or anaphylaxis.

Our school (which begins at 3 year old kinder) has a no-nut policy but no other foods are 'banned' and allergies are dealt with by close supervision and education of all the children. There is a no-food-sharing rule and the kids do abide by it - to the point that I had to tell me own children that it's ok for them to share with each other!

Personally, and as someone who has dealt with many cases of anaphylaxis, I'm not sure that such a widespread blanket ban is the best way to deal with the situation. The measures feeb has outlined above sound like really good management.

Ultimately, if the bans are in place because of a child with a highly sensitive anaphylaxis I would suck it up - although I'm not sure what my kids would eat because although all the alternatives listed in this thread sound delicious to me, I can guarantee that my kids wouldn't eat 99% of them! If the ban is because the kinder has simply decide that this is the easiest way (for them!) to manage food allergies (as opposed to contact anaphylaxis) then I would be looking to find a new kinder.

What happens when the class is to go on an excursion? Or a school camp? Close management, except in the most extreme cases of anaphylaxis, seems to make a lot more sense to me.

[Taurean]

Call me naive but seriously, what is our world coming to? We didn't have anything remotely like this when we were kids in the 70's and 80's. It's getting crazy.

[Frangipani Lou]

Bloom I've got loads of advice and info from teachers across Victoria. I'm working on copying it so I can pass it on to you.
I'll also check our policy and procedures at work ASAP.