Do other parents have issues with all of the sweets offered at school? Why in grade school to teachers have to celebrate every students birthday. How do other parents handle this. Every time we turn around they are handing out candy.
I agree with you. My daughter's first grade teacher years ago used to use candy all the time for math - m&ms, skittles. She also used to give them cookies and spreadable icing to put on top of them... geeeez even kids that don't have diabetes don't need all that stuff.
I know, I really used to hate that as a kid w/D.
And I would add to that (as an adult w/D) why do offices always have to do things that revolve around food!?!? Every event we have at my office involves food. Usually, I have no trouble attending something and just passing on the things I can't/shouldn't eat, but it seems like someone always has to ask why I'm not eating this or that. Or the people who know I have diabetes will see me eating something and say, "Oh, are you allowed to eat that?" Grrrrr.....
If I had a kid with D and a teacher was doing that, I think I would politely ask the teacher to find another way to reward the kids. A reward doesn't have to be food. Stickers, little toys, etc are all great alternatives. Maybe you can even donate some reward alternatives to the classroom. You can also point out that using a reward that your child can't have really singles him/her out as the different one and candy isn't good for any of the kids.
You are so right about office functions with food!!! We have a birthday cake for every birthday, which I got used to long ago so I just go and socialize a bit. When it's my birthday, they always ask if I want them to do fruit because everyone thinks that I can't have cake but fruit is good for you right? I always say "just wish me happy birthday and that will be more than enough".
Our office has a Thanksgiving pot luck, a gumbo lunch with gumbo, rice, potato salad and dessert - nothing there for me!, and a Christmas party lunch with fried seafood.... hopeless. I really have been around it so long that it doesn't bother me to attend but even after many years I still get asked "you aren't eating?". I just usually say "I already ate". There have been years though where I've just taken a day of leave so as not to have to go.
While this is not related directly to D it is does deal with the same issues.
My youngest has allergies beyond believe. I think she has allergies to her allergies. She is even allergic to citric acid. Try to find one of those wonderful falvored medicines that don't have that in it. Then they don't make the medication unflavored cause if they did no one would take it.
Her teacher in frist grade used to call her (to us, not to her or the other kids) the kid that could only eat tree bark.
We would search for candy my daughter could eat and buy it by the bag. Would give it to the teacher for her to give our daughter.
Now as for cake and ice cream (yes...wheat and dairy allergies too)there was a problem we could never get past. My wife would keep cup cakes in the house made of rice flour that my daughter could eat and if we knew about the party in advance we could provide one. Most often we never got told.
It is a tough place to be in. On one hand it ain't right to punish that one child with D. On the other hand it ain't right to punish the 25 others because one of their classmates has D.
I will tell you that no party was ever cancelled because of my daughters allergies nor were any plans for her to have something provided.
I'm so sorry your daughter suffers so badly with allergies. It's just not fair when children to have to deal with diabetes or allergies. That's the one time in their life when they shouldn't be burdened with those kinds of pressures. My daughter had a close childhood friend who had peanut allergies and her diet was very restricted. It's amazing how ingredients are hidden in foods until you examine them very closely.
This was no fun being a child with T1. I remember getting quite upset in grade school a few times that I could not have a sanck/treat that I thought I could have. My parents told my grade school teachers that I could not have any sugary treats passed out in class, but sometimes the teacher or teachers aid would forget and give me one anyways. I would often have a bite or two if I felt my BG could handle it.
I like others ideas of providing the class with other non-food treats to be distributed, if possible. The big problem is that sweets/treets are often available at a social celebration. These are issues that a diabetic will have to deal with for the rest of thier lives. There are no easy answers. Is there a school nurse on hand that you would trust to do a BG and bolus your child? Is the child old enough to do it themselves?
As a side note, I have been asking people to make me a meatloaf (low-carb and tasty) on my birthday for a few years now. Last year a lady I work with actually gave me a couple slices of meatloaf, it was awesome! Unfortuanately she forgot to put a candle in it!
Ironically, we have our holiday office party tomorrow (yeah, we do ours in January because most people are out on leave during the month of December). Anyway, you have to pay to attend ($25/person this year I believe) and I will not be going. I've gone a few times in the past, but it's this big sit-down affair and I just don't feel like dealing with it. I know I could probably SWAG my way through (I'm a darn good SWAGger), but I hate paying for something that just causes me stress and worry and will possibly result in me feeling like crap a few hours later. We're a pretty big office, so thankfully no one makes a big deal out of it. I am just glad that, as an adult, I have more control in dealing with these situations. As a kid it SUCKED.
And, like SmileandNod pointed out, I'm taking the afternoon off instead. I usually treat myself to a little shopping spree or something fun. It helps :-)
Yay for retail therapy! :) Taking off always makes me feel like I'm being a little rebellious too...sort of like playing hooky in the middle of the week!
If only the little kids had that option! If I were a teacher I think I would have to find a way to make those children feel special anyway...like something special just for them. I mean I know that it's something that kids with diabetes have to learn to deal with but I would imagine that's a tough lesson for the really young ones...it hurts my heart for the little ones.
I think it's great that each child be recognized during the year. At my son's Waldorf school, they didn't eat junk food. For a child's birthday, the teacher would gather suggestions from all the class on the subject: We like ... because. Then the teacher wrote all these affirmations in calligraphy on a nice piece of parchment, all the other students signed it, and it was presented to the child. My son is 25 now and it still hangs on our bulletin board. Junk food is much easier, of course.