Keeping Kids Gluten Free at School

Video Transcript

"One of the main things that you can do when you have a child with gluten intolerance in sending him off to school is let the principal, the administrators, before even the teachers, know how serious it is. Any public school, at least I can speak for North Carolina, and I'm sure in other states, will have what is called a Food Monitor. There are some children that are literally peanuts where they'll die if they come in contact with them. A lot of times the schools won't have any peanuts at all. But they have someone that will actually make sure that the child's not eating off of other plates. That's not too difficult to do with an entire school full of employees. They can find one person for that twenty minutes of lunch time to monitor. And that's why I have, actually, the school where my son attends and there is someone who is there knows that he cannot have anything but what I gave him. So, if there's a party, or it's Valentine's Day and someone comes in and nicely hands out lollipops, or its Easter and they're throwing around chocolate. She knows that he can only have what is in his lunch box and that is it. She's very clear on it and I have a very good piece of mind, when I'm at home, that shes able to make sure that that transpires. Because, when you're in a very crowded lunch room or cafeteria, the odds of a child grabbing food off another kids plate are pretty high. So, that is a good way to insure and, if your school system doesn't seem to be cooperative, demand it. It's a right that you have if your child has a food allergy. And, that's what this is a food allergy."