Cooking Class

[GwenO]

My daughter will be starting high school next year (it starts in grade 8 here - she's 13).  She very much wants to take cooking class.  I do know that they cook/bake in groups.

 

So I'm wondering:  if she's working with regular flour I'm assuming breathing it in would be the same as eating it?  And I'm looking for opinions about what concessions/changes you all think are reasonable to ask for.  It's an iffy situation - my daughter doesn't like to be singled out and I don't want to tell her she can't take a class that she's really interested in.......

[blmoreschi]

That's a tough one! My daughter is a year younger, so we're not there yet. So, I really don't have any advice except good luck. It's a tough age. My daughter also doesn't like to be singled out (won't eat her food we pack for her and chooses to go hungry instead in group situations ).

[Cara in Boston]

From what I have read, there is no danger in breathing it in or having it come in contact with your skin.  However, wheat flour becomes airborne and settles on everything.  To avoid accidentally ingesting it (from her hands?) she would need to really wash everything . . . if she washes her hands, but then touches her clothes or hair, she could get it on her hands again.

 

Plus, she really wouldn't be able to eat anything made in the class.  Even a recipe with gluten free ingredients would not be safe due to cross contamination.  I think it would be so hard to make something (or bake some delicious dessert) and then not be able to taste it or enjoy it.

 

We have a local gluten-free bakery here that is going to offer cooking classes and cake decorating for people who are gluten free.  Perhaps there is something like that in your area.

 

Good luck - my son is only 8 so we haven't really had to deal with these situations yet.

 

Cara

[bartfull]

Actually, I believe it WOULD harm her to breathe the flour dust. It would get into the back of her throat and she would end up swallowing it. The only way I would ever allow myself to be in a room with flour dust would be if I were wearing a respirator. Not a dust mask mind you, but a respirator like people who spray-paint cars wear.

 

I doubt your daughter would want to draw attention to herself by wearing a respirator. Not only that, but if you have one of those 501 (?) plans in place at school, they probably wouldn't let her take the class anyway.

[StephanieL]

Different parents deal with it differently.  While I would not feel comfortable with my kid eating anything from the class I would see if perhaps one or two times they would be willing to alter a recipe for the class to work with alternative cooking for sure!  I would send in a batch from home for kiddo to eat if they did that or send disposable bowls/baking sheets to facilitate the project.  It depends on how my kiddo wanted to deal with it.  

 

As for being in the room, that's going to depend on your childs sensitivity.  Perhaps it is or isn't a issue for her to be in the room. I would thin about leaving her things outside the classroom so they aren't covered.  Perhaps a "lab" coat she only wears in that class?

[notme]

if she breathes in flour dust, she will probably ingest it from it getting into her mouth.   then there is the finger licking (everybody does it)  and what not.  and then she wouldn't be able to eat what she's made   if it was my kid, i would teach her to cook at home.  let her take auto shop   also very useful to learn about   even if she never works on cars, the local mechanic won't be able to bamboozle her! 

[cyclinglady]

My daughter is 13 but does not have celiac disease. Instead of enrolling in cooking (those cute little kitchens at the school are so "Brady Bunch") she decided to enroll in band and that I would teach her to cook. It is working out and we are having fun baking gluten-free (no gluten flour ever in our house!). She also has talked to her friends who have realized the cooking class is not meeting their expectations.

We also bake when her friends are over and some of them have never done it and they have lots of fun.

[GwenO]

Thanks for the input everyone.  I have time to figure it out I guess (or try to steer her in another direction) since this will happen in september.

 

Her current teacher gave them all candy on Friday before spring break started.  He told her it was gluten-free.  Wasn't.  Sigh.......

[StephanieL]

Teach her now not to take anyones word for it and to ask for labels or not accept it!  Hope she isn't suffering too bad

[GwenO]

Yes, she's ok now thanks.  Frustrating because her numbers were so high when she was diagnosed two years ago.  They continue to come down but are still not "normal".  Then this kind of thing happens.....

[africanqueen99]

 

Her current teacher gave them all candy on Friday before spring break started.  He told her it was gluten-free.  Wasn't.  Sigh.......

Are you planning on notifying the teacher?  He needs to know that the product wasn't safe for her!  It's possible that he looked at the ingredient list and it passed par, but people that don't live this life have NO idea that a "gluten free" labeled product isn't necessarily gluten-free.  Speaking to him wouldn't be a negative - it would give him guidance so he can help his next  gluten-free student.