Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Feild Trip Fumble - Or Overprotective mom?

There's an article in the Globe and Mail today about a mom outraged by teachers eating almonds in their cabin at night during a school trip she attended to chaperon her 13-year old peanut-allergic son.

Admittedly, I often side with the parent of the allergic child when I read articles like this. But in this case, I think the mom is off base. The teachers were in thier own cabin, after the kids were in bed. That means the risk of cross contamination with her son should have been extremely limited. Presumably, all of those teachers would wake up in the morning, brush thier teeth and shower, eliminating any unlikley traces of nut. Furthermore, it's not like teachers have close physical contact with thier students, so again, the risk of cross-contamination is low. To call them out on thier actions seems pretty harsh to me. Furthermore, it sets up the situation where everyone thinks that parents of allergic children are over-protective of thier kids and want everyone to bend to thier way of thinking. I'm sure the comments section of the Globe will be filled with the usual rants.

Not to mention, this kid was 13, and his mom was chaperoning him. I sincerely hope that by that age, DJ will understand his allergy and be responsible enough to know what he can and can't eat, and that he will be able to attend events like this, like any other normal kid - without his mom.

Personally, I would be more annoyed that the teachers were drinking on the job.

1 comment:

  1. I'm with you on this one! Seriously, it's like when DH and I go out on date nights and we indulge in pb ice-cream or pb cup pie. Surely this mom has sneaked a Reese pb cup or something w/pb on it at one time or another away from her child. So to call the teachers on that is kinda ridiculous esp. considering they were in their own cabin (and she didn't call them out on the drinking...). ...just my opinion! :) It's not like it was a 2 or 3 yr old ... at 13, I'd hope our kids could think for themselves and know how to live with caution!

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