chicago school kids not allowed to bring own lunch!

[Vertnut]

Even as a kid I thought it was bullshit when the black kids all got free lunches cause their parents were poor. We had vending machines and I always thought about what I could have bought with my money if I didn't have to buy lunches like them. Made me resent the fact that they got theirs for free.

As a white kid who lived in subsidized housing for 2 years (we were so broke that if I hadn't been a boy, I'd have had nothing to play with at Christmas), my stomach growled and hurt all day long and I NEVER took a free breakfast/lunch. I resented the shit out of those kids that did, too.

[V8tt]

You have taught your child to adapt, you're not seeking policy change to make everyone else adapt. That makes sense. What doesn't make sense is banning something because it affects one person.

What would happen if you have a school where one child is deathly allergic to peanuts, another is allergic to eggs, a third has a wheat allergy, the forth child is allergic to milk, and the last one is allergic to preservatives? Would they ban everything so the kids only get to eat chicken breasts and carrots?

You make a valid point Jen. One that I will not disagree with. I think the overcautious, protective parent comes out in me about issues dealing with my son...like most of you who have kids. To argue against the policy change..one would have to ask "what's next to change". I think this issue in part symbolizes what we have become as a country. Instead of looking at how an issue change would affect everyone...we change policy/procedures to suit the squeky wheel. I still hold that maybe something should be done for extreme cases where death/serious injury is possible. I speak only from the view of a parent who has seen the effects of an extreme food allergy. My son was about one and we gave him some egg and his breathing became very labored and he went lethargic and started to go to sleep. Fast acting on the part of my wife and I is probably what saved his life.

[ceyko]

How can us taxpayers buy their lunch for them if they bring it from home?

Next will come the lawsuits from the kids who have allergies and are forced to eat at school.

Well, they have to up the statistics on how many people NEED lunches provided. Ban home lunches, 100% NEED it. So then they can allocate 100 dollars for everything .75 cent lunch and only use .35 cents on the actual lunches.

[ceyko]

I'm not fighting for it per se. But PB&J Fridays was something my kiddo looked forward to. Just like buying doughnuts every Friday morning at school. It's just habit, something he enjoyed, and had grown accustomed to. Then one kid enrolls that has a peanut allergy, and it ruined it for everyone else.


Denny - It isn't just public school.

Why not just make some cheese sandwiches for those with allergies? (Rhetorical question, I know)

[stevo]

If some kid has severe pet allergies, does that mean other kids cannot have cats and dogs at home because it might cause a reaction to some other kid at school due to pet hair on their clothes?

Where does it end?

Stevo

[Treasure Chest]

You make a valid point Jen. One that I will not disagree with. I think the overcautious, protective parent comes out in me about issues dealing with my son...like most of you who have kids. To argue against the policy change..one would have to ask "what's next to change". I think this issue in part symbolizes what we have become as a country. Instead of looking at how an issue change would affect everyone...we change policy/procedures to suit the squeky wheel. I still hold that maybe something should be done for extreme cases where death/serious injury is possible. I speak only from the view of a parent who has seen the effects of an extreme food allergy. My son was about one and we gave him some egg and his breathing became very labored and he went lethargic and started to go to sleep. Fast acting on the part of my wife and I is probably what saved his life.

I've dealt with a severe peanut allergy, I understand the ramifications. Nothing stops children from eating peanut butter on toast for breakfast and coming to school, or parents from taking their child off campus to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. The danger still persists. ANYONE can have peanut oils on their hands that could be transferred in the classroom or in the school. Unless they have an entire school and lunchroom to themselves with teachers and staff who never touch a peanut product, all that's being done is setting up an artificial sense of security.

Rather than banning something entirely, it makes more sense to take extra precautions, like exercising good hygeine and a consorted effort not to cross contaminate. Students and staff alike need to be trained on recognizing what an allergic reaction looks like and how respond quickly and accordingly; to give epinepherine immediately. I remember having a kid in my elementary school so allergic to bees that the recess teacher on duty always kept epinepherine on her person, "just in case."

Your child is deathly allergic to eggs, does your school district have mandate on kids bringing egg products on campus? Does the school label check all foods to make sure everything is egg free, but that it hasn't been processed in a facility that processes other products with eggs?

[scootro]

As a white kid who lived in subsidized housing for 2 years (we were so broke that if I hadn't been a boy, I'd have had nothing to play with at Christmas), my stomach growled and hurt all day long and I NEVER took a free breakfast/lunch. I resented the shit out of those kids that did, too.

did you want the free lunches? or were you above that and too proud