Day Care for Kids with Allergies

on April 4, 2009 at 7:33 AM

A mom in Bath, Maine, whose 3 year old son is severely allergic to nuts, dairy and eggs, started her own day care for kids with food allergies.

All children ages 3-7 can attend, even non-allergic ones, but a number of foods are restricted, and kids can't even eat those forbidden foods before they come to the class.

"Regular kids who don't have allergies become aware of them. It becomes a learning experience -- they will all learn how to deal with it together," says the mom founder, Linda Strickland, according to a WCSH6 news report.

"There are a lot of kids with food allergies and it just becomes part of the daily routine so it's not a strange thing. My son is no longer the weird kids that has allergies, it's just part of the regular routine."

The Little Wonders Pre-School Co-Op only meets for a few hours once a week during the regular school year. I wonder if this will pave the way for other day care centers to offer full-time programs for children with allergies. But what happens when the tykes go out into the real world, where everyone else does eat eggs, nuts and dairy? Does such a school provide a false sense of security?

Do you think sequestering allergic kids is a good idea, or are they better off learning to deal with their restrictions in a regular preschool/day care setting?

About the author Cynthia Dermody

is The Stir's Managing Editor who has trophies in her home for her skills at the Irish Jig. She makes cupcakes with as many fattening ingredients as possible, doesn't comb her hair for months at a time, and was probably a faerie in a former life.

Filed Under: child care, food, nursery school

Comments (2)

proudmama1207

on Apr 5, 2009 at 2:33 PM

i think a program like that is very beneficial. my son is allergic to eggs and peanuts and just looking at the labels of foods is scary. if someone wasn't paying attention to labels, then (god forbid) something terrible would happen to my child. that is the scariest thing of all.

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twinclubmom

on Apr 5, 2009 at 5:20 PM

It sounds like a very interesting concept. One of my twins is allergic to dairy so both eat pretty much a dairy free diet. They're 28 mos and therefore too young to even understand what a food allergy is or to determine what they can and can't eat so a place like that would be ideal for us at this point in the game.

I would imagine that by age 4 or 5 they'll be old enough to understand that there are certain foods that they can't eat (well one of them really can't eat) and to not eat anything without checking with one of us or an adult who's aware of the allergy.

These days schools are very aware of the prevelance of food allergies and have very strict guidelines regarding food being brought in. The days of the class party where mom bakes cupcakes or something of the sort are pretty much gone because of this (which is fine by me because they really don't need all those sweets anyway).