Food Allergies & Bullying

Last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics published a study on the prevalence of bullying towards children with food allergies. I'm sure most of us would agree, it's not hard to see how they are easy targets. Parents of food allergy kids are all too well aware of the stigma, and I'm sad to say until recently, I was one of those parents who didn't realize that my child was a direct victim among so many others. This study reveals that more than 50% of parents are in the dark about this type of bullying as well – a deeply concerning statistic that desperately needs to change.

 

The Boston Globe and CNN report bullying incidents where food allergic students have had harmful foods thrown at them and/or have been verbally ostracized for trying to eat safely. In my personal situation, the latter has been the case in my daughter's 4th grade class.... all year long apparently. It wasn't until over winter break she decided to share this with me.

 

I was heartbroken to hear that her classmates regularly express their disappointment in not being able to bring their favorite snacks or homemade birthday treats into the classroom. (All other classes allow it, as none of them are required to be allergy-free.) From eye rolls and whispers behind her back, to more direct accusations (and even an argument between a parent and teacher in front of the entire class about a cake that was not approved), my daughter has shouldered the blame and guilt about this for months.

 

So what’s a parent to do (aside from feeling devastated)? For me, I quickly realized how important it is to ask direct questions of your children. My daughter and I talk often about issues related to her food allergies, but never once have I asked her if she felt as though she was being bullied. If I had done so, I have to believe she wouldn’t have suffered in silence about it for so long.

 

We all know how important it is to talk to our kids. And even more so, how important it is to get them talking to us. The silver lining to this story is now that we know the situation, we can deal with it head on. We've engaged my daughter's teacher and school guidance counselor, and I'm happy to report they have been a huge help in making her feel like she doesn't have to manage this alone.

 

If you're a parent to a food allergic child, I hope you will join me in changing these statistics for the better. Until we can eliminate bullying, I know we have the power to minimize the impact it has on our kids. For more related info on how you can help empower your children, be sure to check out this free webinar sponsored by KFA. On Tuesday, January 15, Linda Coss will be talking about "Raising a Child Who Takes Life-Threatening Food Allergies in Stride". Archived presentations will be available for those can't make the live discussion, so please, don't miss out!

Food Allergy "Education" in Schools

Hi all! So...tomorrow I will be meeting with school officials for the third time this year to review my daughter's 504 Plan. We are meeting for the third time in one month (more than we typically meet over the course of a year) to discuss something I'm sad to say I have never questioned before: the specific "education" that is being provided to teachers regarding food allergies.

To make a long story short, I realized this year that the "education of teachers" as outlined in my daughter's 504 essentially involves a 10-minute lesson on how to administer an Epi-Pen. That's it. That's all. And that's sooooo clearly not enough.

Even though my daughter is in 4th grade now, it seems like each year I think of something new I should have asked about, or been more diligent about. I'm so sorry I never thought to be specific about the actual content of the educational tools being used (or not used as it seems.)  It's so hard to anticipate every possible scenario that could be dangerous, and quite frankly, that's a scary place for most food allergy parents to go.

The National School Board Association makes it a little easier, with this great Food Allergy Resource Guide I recently found on their web site. The checklist in the back is one of the best I've ever seen. l love how it not only outlines items that should be "included" in the plan, but also distinguishes as to whether they are actually "implemented" or not. I know of many schools that have great food allergy guidelines on paper, but less-than-great follow through in adhering to the policies.

For schools that could still use a little help, Mylan has launched a new campaign that runs through November 9, 2012. "Get Schooled in Anaphylaxis" is a nationwide college scholarship opportunity aimed to help schools become more aware of and better prepared to support students with life-threatening allergies. By gathering great ideas from students, they hope to make our schools a safer environment for everyone! Kids grades 1 thru 12 have a chance to win one of several $2,000 college scholarships and best of all, promote greater awareness of food allergies in our schools.

Do you know of a school that does a great job of educating their teachers and the community at large about food allergies? If so, I would love to hear about it. What types of resources, curriculum, and training procedures are they using? With any luck, my school district will be implementing something similar in the days and years to come. Fingers crossed ...

Ebook Awesomeness

Two years ago my husband bought me a Nook Color for Christmas. I must admit, it took me awhile to figure out all of its bells and whistles. I downloaded a few novels and children’s books at first, but still resorted to my standby paperbacks, especially during beach and bathtime reading. (E-reader + water and/or sand = bad idea.)

Then one year ago, my Dad bought my kids each a Kindle Fire for Christmas. Let’s just say, it did not take them awhile to figure out all of its bells and whistles. They LOVE their Kindles and not just for games and movies, but for (who knew?) READING BOOKS. Narrated and/or interactive ebooks & apps are especially great for my 6-year-old, who enjoys a good story, but is not yet a strong, fluent reader.

Forbes magazine recently published an article that supports the consumer activity occurring in our home as of late, reporting that ebook purchases continue to outnumber traditional print. And while I will personally always prefer hard cover picture books to their electronic counterparts, I strongly believe there is a place for both. (Especially on vacation, where I recently downloaded five lengthy novels that required a miniscule amount of space in my suitcase.)

In light of this growing new trend, I am extremely excited to be bringing The BugaBees to the eUniverse very soon! We have been working hard to bring Cricket and the gang to life for both iPad and Android users alike. Traditional ebook and interactive apps based on the book are now in production which means a downloadable version of The BugaBees is in your near future. My kids love the beta (and not just because their cute little voices are part of the narration!) I hope yours will love the app too. Stay tuned for when it becomes available!

Food Allergy Awareness Week Book Giveaway

What better way to spread a little awareness than to read a copy of the new "BugyBops: Friends for All Time" this week ?!? I've already shared this story with my son's Kindergarten class, as well as a group of families (not all of them familiar with food allergies) at our big book launch on May 12th. I love it when I can see the wheels turning in their heads or when they say to me "I never knew that!"

Now it's your turn to share some know-how. Join in on our Book-A-Day-Giveaway for food allergy awareness by simply answering the following question:

What are you doing to help promote food allergy awareness this week?

Please comment to win a free copy of “The BugyBops: Friends for All Time”. Double or triple your chances by sharing on Facebook or tweeting on Twitter the following statement:

Win a copy of “The BugaBees” #book sequel “The BugyBops: Friends for All Time” by @AmyRecob #FAAW #foodallergies 

Winners selected daily!

Sunday's Winner: Jeanette - Mom to Allergy Kid
Monday's Winner:  Linda Trinklein
Tuesday's Winner: hsw
Wednesday's Winner: Paulette M.L. Ricardo
Thursday's Winner: Alicia
Friday's Winner: Jacque Kunin 
Saturday's Winner: ERIKAANN

If you see your name posted, please contact me at amyrecob@gmail.com to redeem your prize!

Important note to this week’s past participants: We love our social media partners for promoting this contest, but have run into a little snafu with posting links! Instead of linking new entries to the current “Question of the Day” it seems that many people are coming to this first kick-off post only.

To make things easy, we are modifying the contest to simply include this one post. You may continue to make comments daily and earn extra entries for posting on FaceBook and Twitter. Many apologies for the confusion! Please know that even though your Monday and Tuesday posts don’t appear here, they have been duly noted and entered in the drawing at www.random.org!

The Book-A-Day Giveaway Contest is Coming!

In honor of Food Allergy Awareness Week, a winner will be selected each day starting May 13 thru May 19th to receive a free copy of the newly released children's book: The BugyBops: Friends for All Time!


To participate, stop back regularly and post a comment right here on this blog to each Question of the Day. To double and triple your points, tweet and/or share the following comment on Twitter or Facebook:


Win a copy of "The BugaBees" #book sequel: "The BugyBops: Friends for All Time" by @AmyRecob #FAAW #foodallergy thebugabees.blogspot.com


Good luck and thanks for doing your part to create a little buzz about food allergy awareness!

Listen to Your Mother!

If you have not yet heard of the Mother's Day Phenomenon that is sweeping the nation, please allow me to enlighten you! For the past two years, women in select cities around the U.S. have been celebrating Mother’s Day by heading to the theater with local writers to share the joys, trials, and occasional absurdities of motherhood at Listen To Your Mother shows. If you have not yet been to a LTYM show, I promise, you will not want to miss out on another year of this inspiring series. 

Created by incredibly smart and talented friend, Ann Imig, LTYM has expanded performances to 10 cities across the country this year! As part of the cast in 2010, and part of the audience in 2011, I can personally guarantee that any level of participation in these shows will leave you uplifted, heart-broken, giddy, grateful and forever changed by the stories you hear. Best of all, a portion of the proceeds from all 10 productions go to local charitable causes that support mothers and families. What more can I say? It's brilliant.

Tickets are selling out so do not delay! I will be the first in line to the Madison show on May 13th.

Cool Book Trailers

It was an amazing day at the Annual Writers' Institute at UW-Madison! I thoroughly enjoyed signing books, attending workshops, and meeting other authors this weekend where I was introduced to (among many things) the super cool concept of creating a book trailer. Of course, this form of marketing makes a lot of sense, and thanks to Youtube, Vimeo and other online platforms, you don't need to spend thousands of dollars in air time for these mini commercials to promote your book.

If you want to get really fancy though, you could easily spend that in pure production costs, which what some of these authors (and one book council) decided to do for our enjoyment. Check these out with many thanks to writer and producer Susan Reetz for bringing these to our attention! My top three favorites are:

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman

New Zealand Book Council promo (pardon the distracting political ad beforehand - just skip it if you can!)

While it's probably difficult to accurately measure the full return on investment for these trailers, I can verify through my own personal focus group (involving one person, that being me), I find them to be highly effective and inspiring. I do believe I will be purchasing copies of both of these books at my earliest convenience. And who knows, maybe a trip to New Zealand is in my future too!

Have you seen any interesting book promos or trailers online? If so, please do share.