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I am a teacher and a parent of a child who definitely has an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts, tree nuts and eggs. I'm disturbed by this article and that CCIE, who I considered a top notch magazine for early childhood educators, would site this quote from the article along with some misinformation. Children with food allergies are protected under Americans with Disabilies Act (ADA) if the person who wrote this article looked further on the FARE website beyond a soundbite from the CEO they would have found this. Children cannot be isolated from peers. Schools MUST have allergy policies in place to protect these children. The field of immunology and pediatric allergies has changed drastically since my child was diagnosed with life threatening allergies to peanuts, tres nuts, eggs and soy 9 years ago at 9 months of age. Initially through a blood test because of his age and eventually skin prick. When it was deemed safe he has and continues to do food challenges to see if he out grew an allergy. All under the care of an immunologist and pediatric allergist. I'm sure misdiagnosis happens as a doctor has a license to practice. However, due to advances in technology and what has been learned about the proteins these children are allergic to ( there are four different proteins in egg a child can have a reaction to, nine years ago that wasn't known) the field is changing rapidly and diagnosis should be done with a specialist not a pediatrician. I have encountered numerous teachers who were callous in their approach to a child's food allergies and have seen my own child and others put in harms way with a nut cracking job in the classroom or having him mix but not eat green eggs and ham for Dr. Seuss day. Both days I did keep him home for multiple days and as a volunteer parent actually disinfected the room from the oils which were everywhere from the nuts. The callousness of this teacher did cause a child to be sent to the hospital with life threatening reaction. Life threatening allergies are real and can be deadly. Putting this on your website can put many children in harms way because of the number of early childhood educators your magazine educates. Teachers who might already be questioning whether or not a child's allergy is real and the inconvenience it causes them in the classroom rather than the safety and well being of the children in her care. A teacher's most important job is to keep children safe and an article such as this which leaves more questions than answers is a disservice to teachers and parents.

Let's trust the allergists to make that determination. Daycare staff should not be second guessing medical decisions for parents and doctors. I think a more helpful article would have been a reference to how daycare staff can manage food allergies safely. To send out only this article seems to promote the view that diagnosed food allergies should not be taken seriously. Do we need daycare staff deciding which food allergies they will and won't take seriously? My daughter has a number of food allergies several determined by life threatening reactions to eating those food, and others by blood and skin test. In our case blood tests correlate very strongly with her reactions. Should we not tell our daycare about foods she reacted to on her blood test but we have not fed her yet because it could risk her life? We informed our daycare of the ones that we and our allergist felt were most risky. Your article is dangerous if it implies food allergies named by parents should not be taken seriously and could present no safety issues for children.