Is banning peanut butter from primary school, going to far?

Question

My childs school has banned all peanut and nut Products and I am not allowed to put a peanut butter sandwich into his lunch because 2 kids in the school are allergic to peanuts.

There is a sign at the front of the school 'Nut free school'.I am not against a ban that would save a childs life, but the ban is ineffective and unenforcable so possibly dangerous. There are non English speaking parents that cook thier childs lunch in peanut oil. There are peanuts in so many products that we don't even know have peanut or other nuts. There are vegetarians who depend on nuts in the diet for protein and they are ignoring the ban. I gave my son a sandwich with soy linseed in it the other day...I forgot that nuts are banned.

Ratboy ,,,there are kids that are allergic to tuna fish, and eggs and wheat and grass and kiwi and dairy products etc. etc.

my1215boo ,,,I agree with you ...the other day my son came home with his eye swollen shut because a kid threw grass in his eye. He is allergic to grass...but I am not going to ask the school to dig up the grass. I teach my son to deal with the symptoms and work with my doctor to treat him.

cheezy...what happens when these kids go to the mall or a party or overseas trips or anywhere for that matter. The world is not a peanut free zone. If the kids have a true anaphylactic reaction to peanuts...they should carry and epi-gun with them.

Answer 1

I can see both sides of the case. But I don't agree with it. I know there are cases of children who are very allergic to even peanut dust. However, one of the jobs of school is to prepare the students for the real world. This student will need to learn how to cope with his allergy in life. We cannot ban peanuts everywhere (even though planes did stop serving them). I would think the better solution would be to have the child's parents talk with his friends' parents. If the people he sits with understand perhaps they will voluntarily refrain from peanut butter - but is ridiculus to have all children banned.

Bee stings can be deadly (see My Girl) but you don't see people banning recess. In fact lately there has been a push to make sure recess does NOT disappear. How is that fair to the children who are allergic to bee stings? Where does it all end?

In this age of accomadations for everything, perhaps a better choice would be to have the two students who are allergic and their small group of friends who promise to not bring peanut butter, eat somewhere different- in a separate classroom. If I have a student in my classroom that needs a test read to her, I don't read the test to the whole class, she is taken to another room so that her accomodation can be met and she can do well. This should be the same. I do understand how serious this allergic reaction is and I can see where we want to protect this child but it should not have to effect EVERYONE.

Just curious - Are teacher's allowed to eat peanut butter in the teacher's lunchroom?

And I do agree - if you aren't going to breastfeed your child please make sure he gets ALL of his boosters. Children get a majority of their antibodies (to fight things) through breastmilk.

Answer 2

Peanut allergies are much more serious than other allergies and if you truly do have two children in the school that are allergic to them, I don't think it's too much to ask that the other children comply. I knew a child that had to wipe everything down before he touched it because there might be peanut oil traces left on it. That's how allergic he was. Anaphylactic shock is no fun, and I don't think your child would want to be responsible for the death of another.

However, I do appreciate John W.'s point of view up there, he does have some enlightened ideas. Perhaps, the affected children should eat by themselves. It does seem a little harsh, but their friends can eat with them if they want. I see both sides, to an extent. Remember, we are talking about children, and no one has really done anything wrong here.

Answer 3

Do you know how serious a peanut allergy can be?


Kids can die from just being exposed to peanut dust. A kid eating a sandwich at the next table over can be enough exposure to trigger a reaction.


You don't want to be responsible for causing an allergic kid's death. Nobody could be that selfish or that unfeeling. Stick with tuna fish.

Answer 4

No, it's not going too far at all. Every child deserves to be educated safely and if that means banning nut products from the school premises then so be it. You've obviously never seen how quickly a child with a peanut allergy can react to peanuts and die within a few minutes.

It won't kill your child to not have peanut butter at school but it will kill these kids if they come into peanuts. If it were your child, you'd be the first to advocate such a ban. Just be grateful that your child is free from such a horrible allergy and give them their peanut butter at home.

Answer 5

Over the top! In my child's school they tried to enact the same ban. After a group of parents complained they backed down and realized their shortsightedness. We pointed out what was next? Where does it stop?

Nut allergies can be very serious. The affected children could eat in a classroom and their friends can take turns bringing non-nut products and eat with them on those days. After lunch all of the kids can play together. But making all the children to suffer is ridiculous. Especially when you consider that classrooms don't have refrigerators for kids to keep their lunch in and most foods should be kept refrigerated for food safety reasons.

Our group of outraged parents had a lawyer who stated that if the school was going to begin mandating no nut products he would file suit on BEHALF of the affected children that the school should provide FREE lunch for all children of the school to assure that the no nut policy was enforced.

The policy was dropped like a hot rock.

Answer 6

Well as much as kids share food and stuff it is probably a good idea that it is banned. If your kid was deathly allergic to something you would probably want it banned too. I know of a child who is allergic to fish in my school. She can't even smell it without getting having trouble breathing. So no i don't think it is going to far. If you kid wants a pb&j sandwich feed it to them at home.

Answer 7

it dont seem right --- the childrens parents should be responible for the allegeries of their children not the entire school---peanut butter is known to be very bad for those allergic to it however it is a nutrutious food for those who aren't--hopefully a comprise can be reached---after reading the effects it is best not to have peanut butter at school ''ive only recently heard of this type of allergy and did not know it esisted or how serious it was// so i have edited my original answer above in the best intrest of everyone///

Answer 8

all the schools my boys attended had the peanut ban.I was a little upset at first as p.b. was a major staple in our house, but after some research into the subject I happily complied as I would not want to send any child into anafilactic shock or to their death. peanut allergies are real & very serious. I am grateful my family doesn't have any serious allergies

Answer 9

peanuts are pioson,your children will breakout with acne it also takes over 9 hours to digest and what little nutrition it has most of it the body can not obsorb because it is so hard on the digestive system.
Almond butter is much more nutritious and tastes so much better, it cost more but definetly worth it.

Answer 10

Yes this is a silly rule, inspired by a sense of panic and fear of law suits. I believe that many kids are misdiagnosed as being seriously allergic to peanuts. Truly - if all moms breastfed their babies, the current peanut problem would vanish mostly.