If you have a child with a life-threatening allergy to peanuts, you are probably very grateful for schools and summer camps that have instituted a “no peanuts” policy. After all, this type of policy is meant to keep your child safe, right?
X-Man lives with a very severe peanut allergy. While all foods brought into the home for X-Man are checked and rechecked to make sure they don’t contain peanuts, we all still live with a daily fear for what peanut-laced foods X-Man may come into contact with in the “outside” world.
This week, X-Man is attending a day camp at a local recreational facility. It’s an excellent camp, and this will be the 2nd full week of the summer that he has been able to enjoy at this camp.
Like most camps these days, there is a great deal of paperwork to fill out before leaving your child at camp for the first time. One of the pieces of information they need to know is if your child has a peanut allergy.
While the camp X-Man is at is in fact “peanut free”, they still needed to know this information. For any child with a peanut allergy, their parents are also required to leave TWO EpiPens with staff at the camp while your child is there. You can never be too safe.
All reasonable, and for parents with children who have severe peanut allergies, a welcome relief to know they take this issue so seriously.
X-Man’s first week of camp went well. He was sent off to camp with his two EpiPens and a “peanut free” packed lunch. There seemed to be no issues, and no calls from the camp.
After his first day back at camp this week, the camp called to advise that only one EpiPen had been sent to camp that day, and that two were required to be sent. We screwed up and forgot to send the second EpiPen, so we promised to make sure a second one was in his bag the next day.
What happened the next day defies any sort of logic – at least in my head.
X-Man’s mother went to pick him up at camp yesterday (two days into this week of camp), and was met by a camp staff member telling her that X-Man’s packed lunch was NOT labelled “peanut free”.
WHAT???
That’s right. X-Man’s mom had sent him off to camp with a lunch box full of food in reusable containers – none of it labelled “peanut free”.
The camp lost me with that comment, but then it gets worse.
Due to the fact that none of X-Man’s lunches for the previous 2 days had been labelled “peanut free”, X-Man told his mother that they were required to place him in the lunch room with all other kids who had come to the camp on those days without their lunches labelled “peanut free”.
So, let me get this straight. The camp has a child in their care with a known severe peanut allergy, for which the camp requires his parents to provide 2 EpiPens to them while he attends the camp, but because his lunch contents are not labelled “peanut free” they make him sit with the other kids who could potentially have peanut-laced foods in their lunch boxes.
That makes total sense. NOT.
Apparently, labeling EVERYTHING in X-Man’s lunchbox was one of the rules of this camp that we had missed seeing in the paperwork provided to us from the camp.
This immediately made me wonder what happened during his first week of camp when all his lunch items were sent to camp WITHOUT being labelled “peanut free”, yet we never received a phone call at that time. Does this mean X-Man spent his whole week eating with kids who “may” have had peanut-laced items in their lunches? *Shudder*
While we all understand the thought process behind this rule they have, WHERE is the common sense in this case? Do they actually think that X-Man’s mother is going to send him off with ANYTHING in his lunch box that may contain even the slightest trace of peanuts? Of course she wouldn’t!
My jaw hit the floor when I heard this story last night, and I still haven’t picked it back up.
Rules are in place to protect kids with severe allergies like X-Man, and for that we are all very grateful. Rules like this mean we have to worry just a little bit less when X-Man is away from home.
But we need to bring back some COMMON SENSE people!
We all see evidence of the loss of common sense in our daily lives now. Things like privacy laws, fear of lawsuits, and many other reasons prevent us from looking at a situation for what it is. Instead we just point to the rules and say we have to follow them – with no thought of making an exception when it makes sense to do so.
This lack of common sense is, ironically, common in today’s news headlines, and is rampant on social media.
In most cases, lack of common sense is more of an annoyance than anything. Something to roll our eyeballs at.
In this case, though, the rules put in place to protect children like X-Man, and the lack of common sense, failed to protect X-Man from the very thing the rules were designed to protect him from.
I’m not saying that rules are meant to be broken but, it’s time for all of us to start listening to the old advice that mom used to give us.
“Use your head!”
Jenna Em says
This is insane and so dangerous. If there were any worries, why didn’t they contact you on the very first day of camp before the lunching began? Scary and completely lacking any common sense.
Sandy says
Very good question, Jenna! A simple phone call would have alleviated everything! Thanks for reading 🙂
Christina says
Well said Sandy and I will leave it at that:)
Sandy says
Thanks Christina!! 🙂
Mary says
that is completely absurd! Where is the logic? How incredibly frustrating to deal with too! Not to mention scary!
Reminds me of a time I added a gum pack to my eggs and milk purchase at the last second, and the salesgirl gave me my total of $65?? I told her umm I think there’s a mistake, she insisted it was right! I went on to say that eggs, milk and gum do not cost $65…she stared at her till and then insisted it was right. … i told her please use some common sense, logically these 3 items do not cost this much…but I got nowhere and finally left, incredibly frustrated. One example of many…Where has common sense gone?
Sandy says
You are so right, Mary, frustrating and scary all at the same time! Wow…yours is a great example of lack of common sense! I can’t get over that. It’s like if the computer tells me it’s “this” then it must be correct. It’s kind of scary. It’s like we humans are starting to lose the ability to think! Lol…I would have been in the manager’s office if that happened to me. The air would be blue 😉 Thanks for reading and for sharing your story, Mary!
Aimee Geroux says
Wow I am kind of speechless …. who the heck are these people running this camp? Clearly the kid with a PEANUT allergy is NOT bringing PEANUT filled lunches! ABSURD is an understatement.
Sandy says
Well said Aimee! For them to actually think he may have peanut-laden snacks in his lunchbox is ridiculous, to say the least. Thanks for reading!
Gingermommy says
We have a few allergy restrictions at our school. My kids are picky so it creates very little options for lunch. But I rather be safe than sorry . I can not imagine the fear of having a child with these allergies
Sandy says
Yes, always better to be safe than sorry, Kim. I can relate to the picky eater problem/peanut free lunches. It’s a tough one! Thanks for stopping by.
Monica says
This is totally ridiculous, come on people, use your common sense. This child, with a severe peanut allergy, was placed in a very dangerous situation, which could very well have been life-threatening! Thank goodness everything turned out okay and he didn’t suffer an anaphylactic reaction.
Sandy says
Thank you Monica! I think that is the worst part…they were trying to protect those with allergies yet, by doing so, exposed X-Man to the very food he was supposed to be protected from. Thank you for stopping by Monica 🙂
Suzanne Rudge says
I am totally shuddering along with you Sandy, that is terrible! What in God’s name makes them think X-man’s family would ever put him in danger. I have to wonder if the age of the staff at the camp had anything to do with it….
Sandy says
I know you can totally relate, Suzanne. I’m sure what you’ve said is part of the problem. I think most/all the staff are fairly young. Perhaps they were told that they must stick to all rules, no exceptions. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Sarah at Journeys of The Zoo says
Glad to hear that nothing happened to X-Man given the “head shaking” logic that was used and that one simple phone call could have likely fixed. Here’s to better days in the future.
Besos Sarah
Sandy says
Thanks so much, Sarah! We are all just happy nothing happened and that this came to light. Thanks for stopping by!
Dawn says
Ok, I am stunned at the lack of common sense here. This also makes me think of what my dad says… We are all just a number now. Nobody treats you as an individual anymore. This incident could have had fatal results though. It sure doesn’t give you much faith in the staff at the camp now does it.
Sandy says
Definitely made me lose faith in the staff. Made me think…do they even know how to administer an EpiPen? I’m sure they do…but it made me question that. I tend to agree with your dad, Dawn. It’s sad. Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts!
Emily Smith @ The Best of this Life says
I can’t believe they would put a child who has a known allergy with those who actually possibly have nuts in their lunches…in an isolated room. Common!!! So glad that he didn’t run in to any further trouble.
Sandy says
Thanks Emily! We are very lucky nothing happened! We just hope that it never happens to another child with a peanut allergy again 🙁 Thanks for stopping by!
Brandi says
Oh goodness. That doesn’t make much sense at all. As you know, we know all too well about peanut allergies in our household and it’s truly unreal the types of situation you encounter that make you shake your head and make you shudder at the potential danger they could have been in! 🙁
Sandy says
Yes, you can definitely understand this situation, eh Brandi? I’m sure this isn’t an isolated incident either. Like you say, we’ve all encountered other similar situations that make you shake your head. Thanks for stopping by, Brandi!