Peanut catastrophe
OK, so that is a little too dramatic. As the parent of a peanut-allergic child, I do wish that it wasn't called an allergy. When people hear that word, they think about runny noses and stinging eyes. They don't associate the word "allergy" with death. The fact is that someone with a severe food allergy can die from ingesting 1/1,000,000 of a peanut. People always say that they understand and then, in the next breath, offer the child something that is peanut-contaminated. I realize that it shouldn't be a problem for other families, but a little concern or empathy would be nice. After all, if no one in your family suffers from a food allergy, then you don't have to deal with the constant concern over possible reactions. You don't have to talk to a restaurant manager every time that you go out to eat. You don't have to worry about someone who has peanut residue (or peanutbutter) on his/her hands touching your child and causing a reaction. You can travel without packing food in case you can't find anywhere for your child to eat. You don't have to deal with your child crying because everyone else can have ice cream, birthday cake, M&M's, many types of crackers and cookies, cake decorations and sprinkles, almost all candy and chocolate, pancake mix, Pizza Hut pizza, and many other things. You can get on a plane without making special arrangements with the airline to not have peanuts on the flight. You don't have to deal with schools that have food allergy policies that they don't uphold. Please enjoy your life and be grateful for what you do have (and what you don't have to think about), but please have some empathy for those of us who have life-threatening issues to deal with at every meal.