Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/making-the-case-for-a-food-policy-for-food-allergic-children/5024152/
Suzi’s mom is bringing in birthday cupcakes on Friday.
Can you count how many Goldfish® crackers are on the table?
After the race, everyone will receive a doughnut!
Our Winter Festival project is a gingerbread house.
These situations are common occurrences in early childhood programs. Within nearly all cultures, sharing food is a social constant. It’s a primary way to connect with one another. However, for a food allergic child, events surrounded by unsafe food consistently remind the child of their food allergy, their lack of belonging, and the feeling of being unsafe. We need to always consider what happens when this intrinsic way of connection is circumvented with life-threatening food allergies.
As the diagnoses of food allergies become more prevalent, so are the skyrocketing numbers. According to Food Allergy Research and Education, 15 million Americans are living with a food allergy, and 5.9 million children have a diagnosed food allergy—that equates to two to three children per typical classroom. The most common food culprits, known as the “Top 8 Allergens,” are milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat.
We live in a society that socializes, celebrates, incentivizes, rewards, crafts, and learns with food. ...