When my daughter Night Owl was two weeks into pre-kindergarten, we received an e-mail from the teacher: “Due to a nut allergy, our classroom will be strictly nut-free” Since pre-K children eat lunch in their classrooms, this meant Night Owl would have to forgo her preferred lunch of almond butter sandwiches, and I momentarily panicked because she’s seriously underweight and will not eat meat or eggs; nuts are our trusty source of protein. Pesto was out, too: it contains pine nuts. Ditto hummus, because of the sesame factor.

So we settled on a regime of cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches and even got a little creative some days, and it wasn’t the catastrophe we had feared. She didn’t waste away. She tried school lunch a few times. And in the process, she learned about food allergies and protecting friends. She even attempted to work this new knowledge to her advantage–or perhaps it was solidarity to her pal that prompted her, one night at dinner, to fold her arms across her chest and announce: “I can’t eat this–I’m allergic of chicken.”

While I know that nut allergies are a real and grave threat to a growing number of children, I can’t help, at times, but raise an eyebrow at the mass hysteria surrounding them. School-wide peanut bans? Nut free zones in public places? These seem like unrealistic and paranoid measures, given the actual percentage of children afflicted with life-threatening allergies (currently, an estimated .8% of children has a peanut allergy). Then again, my kids are some of the lucky ones. And in our case, as the school year went on, what had initially seemed like a drastic measure to me (why not just have a nut-free table, I had wondered) turned out to be a small compromise to make in the balance: what’s a picky, scrawny kid compared with one who could become dangerously ill?<!--more-->

Starting at the end of the pre-K year, students at PS 29 transition to lunch in the cafeteria. From then on, it’s pretty much a free-for-all, with seat swapping, food scattering, and the offering of PB&J to any kid who doesn’t like what’s on the hot lunch tray. Those with serious food allergies keep EpiPens at school in case of an emergency, and personnel are prepared to administer them. As far as I know, there have been no nut-related tragedies.

At Night Owl’s new school, nut-free classrooms do not exist, the rationale being “It’s not a nut-free world.” In other words, in the long run it’s pragmatic to teach children to watch out for themselves and for their friends, since conceivably they will be frequenting places other than school, where people eat nuts. This to me seems a wise approach…but perhaps a busy pre-K classroom is too soon to impart this message.

Should schools or zones within them be designated nut-free for a child with allergies? What is your school’s allergy policy?