Thursday, January 10, 2013

The Nut-Free Mom Blog

7:29 AM    No comments

The Nut-Free Mom Blog

The Latest Food Allergy News: Teasing, Bullying and What to Do About It

Posted: 09 Jan 2013 12:33 PM PST


Stories on food allergy bullying starting making the rounds of the major news outlets over the holiday, and recently the journal Pediatrics released a study regarding food allergy bullying and its potential to impact the lives of kids with food allergies, and their families. Here is the link to that story.

Bullying is very serious and many kids have to cope with it, not just those with food allergies. What makes food allergy bullying especially dangerous is that some kids use food in aggression against other kids, and that can be hazardous to their health and might even endanger their lives. For example, pushing a peanut butter sandwich in an allergic child's face or threatening to do so.

Obviously, any bullying that turns physical must be dealt with immediately and stopped. Stop Bullying is a website that addresses bullying on every level including how schools can work to prevent bullying, what kids can do to stop bullying and signs that your child is being bullied. Many schools have a no tolerance for bullying policy. This should definitely include food allergies so if you have concerns, don't hesitate to speak with school officials. Stop Bullying's site has guidelines for working with your school.

According to the Pediatrics article, about half of kids do not report the bullying, so you will want to watch your child for signs that they might be having a problem. The Stop Bullying site offers a list of possible symptoms that your child is being bullied. (Not every kid with these symptoms is being bullied, but the list offers a good place to start and can spark discussion with your child.)

The fear of being bullied or teased makes some parents and kids afraid to reveal the allergy to anyone. To me that is a very unfortunate side effect because it has been proven that food allergy awareness helps in an emergency and can save a life. If a kid feels ashamed of their allergies, ironically, that may make them more likely to be bullied.  Plus, kids ashamed of their allergies might not want to speak up, advocate for themselves or carry life-saving medications. Better to anticipate this and help your child work through their feelings and role play some responses if they find themselves in a situation where they are bullied.

Teasing and unkind comments are another story. Not all kids with food allergies will be bullied physically, but I would hazard to guess that many kids with food allergies are subjected to verbal remarks, teasing and sometimes unkind comments. I wrote about post about teasing and food allergies that you can read by clicking here. (Food allergy-friendly company and friends, Tasterie, shared my past post on their own blog today, so thanks for spreading the word, Tasterie!)

Teasing and taunting is upsetting and of course, it can always escalate into physical bullying, so I really like Stop Bullying's suggestions to help parents stop bullying before it can really even get started. A confident, prepared kid will be able to help stop bullying too.

What is your experience with teasing or bullying? What did you do about it?

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)