The Subtle Side of a System of Bullying those with Food Allergies

We’re having a conversation in our group about schools and activities, with emphasis on accommodations for kids with allergies.

And I am seething in anger.

Rewards for achievements is class trips to a movie theatre, during school hours. I guess there are worse things, like rewarding kids with candy. 

Oh wait..  these movie trips also include popcorn and candy.

If it was my kid, I would be raising holy hell.  How about instead give the kids a fun activity that isn’t sitting in seats like they do all day every day?

How about exploring a museum? Having a picnic in a park, or even just going to the park to play for a few hours in the afternoon? Maybe they can have a game of badminton or soccer or football or basketball and the winning team gets a prize… like a free cone at DQ or a $5 gift card or even just a badly made trophy that they can get bragging rights? 

But instead, lets fill them with sugar and sit them down for 2 hours.

Then there’s the popcorn parties, and food parties, where parents have offered to supply popsicles or other “treat” so that their child could take part… and they were refused.

Instead, the child is forced to miss school that day or from what I just heard today… This girl was made to sit in a room alone for 2 hours with work to do and self-teach. ALONE. ABANDONED.

And that’s not the worst of it.

One parent was given the option of having their child sit in the library with the detention kids or they could pull the kid from school that day and be marked absent.

Yes, please lets teach our kids to expect exclusion if they want to avoid their allergens. That’s going to go over really well, and is probably why there’s so many reports of kids dying in school.

Let's continue to make these kids who already feel different.. Let's make them also feel more alone.. More abandoned.. more isolated.. Because it's inconvenient.