My daughter has a peanut allergy. She’s only had one reaction in her life, which was when we found out about the allergy, but her doctor did a test and it turns out that it’s severe. She’s in the “shouldn’t eat foods that were prepared in facilities that process peanuts” category.
Like many schools in New York City, hers is a nut-free facility. At the beginning of the year, new parents are told this. It’s posted on the door as you come in. It’s on the wall in the hallway. And yet the other day a parent was walking up the stairs talking to their kid about their peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Why would someone do that? I just can’t understand the reasoning that goes into sending your kid to school with a lunch that could kill another student.
A Pun Involving Travel 
Plenty of parents don’t realize that Nutella contains nuts too… even though, you know… it’s right there in the name…
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Pesto is another one that slips by people. That sort of mistake bothers me less than what seems like parents just not caring.
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I’ll say this, if your child isn’t the one with the allergy, it is pretty easy to forget that a food product in your house is a toxic poison to 1% of the population.
I’m willing to bet that the majority of the time it is an honest mistake.
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Paul Gatling Except for the fact that schools post it everywhere and remind parents and children constantly about it.
(As they should, of course.)
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Paul Gatling I agree, and am very sympathetic with how hard it can be to remember when it’s not your allergy. That’s why things like nutella or pesto don’t get me that riled up. These are honest mistakes.
But peanut butter. It’s peanut butter. I honestly don’t understand how, when it’s pointed out repeatedly at the beginning of the year that peanuts are not allowed in the building, that doesn’t just become a thing you know in your life: “No peanut butter at school.”
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