We're doing kindergarden too - at least we would be if the whole
education system countrywide wasn't on strike! Avigayil has been home
for 5 days now, but at least we did get to talk to the kindergarden
teacher before school started (or didn't actually!).

Our daughter is anaphylactic to milk and peanuts. Here's what we agreed:

1. There will be a ban on a particular peanut snack which is very
popular and which crumbles into tiny pieces. We are not asking for a
general peanut ban, or a milk ban. In deciding to draw the line where we
did, we thought about issues of cross-contamination. Avigayil can avoid
any milk products far more easily than she could this particular snack.
We wanted to reduce the possibility of accidental exposure, while still
having her deal with "real world" exposure to her allergens, if that
makes sense. We would have asked for a ban on milk-based snacks if any
had given us cause for worry about accidental exposure too.

2. Avigayil will, as usual, keep a box with her own snacks at
kindergarden for times when there is food around that she can't eat. She
is not allowed to eat *anything* without clearing it with us first. We
have told her that, for now, she cannot rely on her teacher to say
something is OK, because she doesn't have enough experience reading
labels. We will check with the teacher about ingredients for cooking
sessions etc.

3. We have cleared a particular kind of pretzel for the teacher to give
to all the kids, including our daughter. This is on condition that the
teacher hands the pretzels to the kids, and does not allow any little
potentially cross-contaminated hands into the packet. Avigayil knows
that if she sees another child putting her/his hand into the packet, she
is to say "No" in case that child had milk or peanut fingers.

4. We are leaving an Epi-pen in the kindergarden. So far we have trained
the teacher and her assistant how to use it. We still have to reach the
substitute teachers and assistants. They have also been told how to
recognise an emergency and what to do (and in what order).

5. We are checking with the glue and paint manufacturers for milk
ingredients.

6. During the year we will re-evaluate numbers 1-5!

Good luck to everyone else in the same allergy boat.

Debbie
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