There is a false assumption that schools already have adequate policies and procedures in place that cover the specific needs of all children with food allergies. I have been guilty of this assumption myself, before my daughter started public school. You hear that a school has a “nut free" lunch table and you assume that they understand how to manage all food allergies. Yet, I soon learned that In Massachusetts, the guidelines for food allergies in public schools are voluntar

If you are at all like me, you have been blessed with an incredibly picky eater. You know what I'm talking about: the foods can't touch each other on the plate, any new recipes are met with severe suspicion if not open hostility, and there is quite a limit to what will actually cross her lips. When she was two, for the entire year she literally ate only four specific foods: pasta, garlic hummus, cereal, and little orange fruit cups, and often TOGETHER. Can you imagine how tha

When I was growing up, I was told: If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. My young daughter's food allergies are a pretty sour lemon in our life right now. Every event we go to is darkened by the looming fear of an anaphylactic reaction, by the planning for a reaction, and by the preventative steps we must take to keep her safe and included. It can be exhausting, stressful, and emotional at times. If you don't live this life, it can be hard to understand, but another food a