How do you make them understand?

[sarakay2]

Well, to make a long story short...Ds started preschool this fall. It is the first time he has been out of my sight. He has a serious peanut allergy. I thought I explained this to his school. "No chocolate, no baked goods, no peanuts" I brought in videos and literature from his allergist. They have Benadryl and 2 Epi pens.

Today David stayed home with a bad cough and I find out they made peanut butter snacks at school. 4 yr olds smeared with peanut butter. The tables covered in peanut butter. The air filled with peanut...

They said they had jelly as an alternative for David so he did not eat any...

I found out because his Aunt picks him up and was shocked at what she saw. If David had been there, he would have been in trouble.

I feel as if I can't keep him safe.

Ok, enough of that. Have I neglected to do something? Maybe I need to tell them daily? I'm just not sure how to handle this.

Any insight would be helpful. Thanks

[AngelaB]

If this happened to me, I would do some googleing and find articles of deaths or near deaths related to peanut allergies, print and take to school. I would make a big stink. Nicely, no yelling, but firm and assertive. Peanut allergies are no joke and I would think a school would know this.

My son doesnt eat at preschool unless I provide the snack and he eats away from the other kids. He would snatch their food and then we would have a big mess of behavioral meltdowns for at least a week so we avoid food. He goes to speech therapy while the others have snack.
Good luck!!!

[sylviamama]

I worked in a preschool for five years, and we took all allergies very seriously, but now that I'm a mom and hanging out with other moms, I hear that it is common for mothers to need to do a lot of educating of preschool teachers, administrators, assistants, cooks, other parents etc.

You said you thought you explained it, but you wrote "a serious peanut allergy...no chocolate, no baked goods, no peanuts". Did you tell them it's life threatening? Did you tell them just your son couldn't have those or that they couldn't be in the classroom? Did you tell them that it's the oils on the tables and on other children's hands? Did you tell them it's the oils in the air? Did you tell them it can't be in any of the classrooms in the school?

If you did tell them all this, then I would make a BIG stink. I second the pp who says to print articles about near death/death. You CAN keep him safe. But it's hard work to keep him safe by educating others that are caring for him. GOOD LUCK!