School Gave My Child A Sack Lunch!

[Jodele]

To day was a bad day.(bad week in fact) This morning I was so tired that I did not get up in time to fix 2 lunches for my 2 older DDs , so I did it after I got back from taken them to school and took the lunches to school when I picked up my youngest from prek. The office staff said they would get it to them asap. so I went home. When I picked up Melinda and Emily from school Melinda's teacher asked if Melinda brought a lunch today and I said that I droped it off at the office I was running late today for school. I saw that melinda had her lunch bag with her so I thought she got it at lunch but she opened it and nothing had been touch and I ask her if she had lunch at all and she said they gave her a sack lunch and then the office gave her lunch bag. She ate the sack lunch not her lunch I made her. When I got home I called the school and was SO MAD!!! I said to them that I made sure everyone in the school know that my kids have this problem. This better not happen again. I am a stay at home mom and you can call me any time. Sorry for my ranting I know she will be ok but she might be sick tomorrow. Day befor yesterday she was throwing up all day and had the Ds. it was like water and she had 2 acidents with it. She had no fever. I think she got glutened the day before from playdought so no more playdough. I just got my test back from enterolab and it was positive iga 21. So I know that my younger kids have it to. We have been gluten free for 2 weeks now and I am feeling better everyday. It took my oldest dd to find out what was wrong with me. She is my angel.

Thanks for letting me rant.

Jodele

[wolfie]

YIKES!!! I would be very upset! I hope that it doesn't happen again.

[RiceGuy]

Glad you are doing better so quickly. That didn't happen for me at all. Anyway three weeks is hardly enough time for the gluten-free thing to sink in at the school or anyplace else. You'll need to really push them I'd guess. Plus your kids will learn never to eat what they aren't certain is safe. They will get it - especially when accidents like that lunch bring about illness, while the gluten-free diet gives them a sense of well-being that they can appreciate.

But do keep up the fight with the school, and don't trust them to deliver the lunch to your child. Demand to take it to them personally. It's not a concentration camp! That will also hit home with your child how important it is.

[Tori's Dad]

Our daughters first day of kindergarten is tomorrow so we will be on pins and needles for sure. She was diagnosed in May so we have had all summer to train her to not accept any food that we didn't provide for her.

dad:"Now what do you say if someone offers you food, even if it looks yummy?"

Tori:"I can't eat that because it might make me sick"

dad:"Good girl"

Don't worry, your daughter will quickly get used to not accepting food from others. Hope she gets to feeling better soon!

[2Boys4Me]

Our daughters first day of kindergarten is tomorrow so we will be on pins and needles for sure. She was diagnosed in May so we have had all summer to train her to not accept any food that we didn't provide for her.

dad:"Now what do you say if someone offers you food, even if it looks yummy?"

Tori:"I can't eat that because it might make me sick"

dad:"Good girl"

Don't worry, your daughter will quickly get used to not accepting food from others. Hope she gets to feeling better soon!

Here's how it went with my son (entering grade two Sept. 5) all through grade one if someone offered him something.

Him: Is it gluten-free?

Them:

Him: No thanks.

Then he'd go to the teacher and get his treat bag from her desk and have one of his treats. She kept a bag in her desk with Envirokidz bars, Aero bars, Fruit to Go and Rockets.

[Smunkeemom]

From one of the ladies in my support group

Having lots of experience with schools and special needs, I would suggest typing up a letter for your school principal and director of special services requesting a 504 plan. This is a great plan for kids with special health needs, it is basically a written contract saying what issues your son has and how the school will meet those needs. If they break the contract, it's a civil rights infraction. But remember, you must request in writing, and they must respond in writing. If they say that they don't need it, ask for that in writing as well. Trust me.

she says it keeps them in line a LOT better because they know that if they screw up you have it in writing that they know what to do, it means they were negligent with your kid, and that's not something the school wants everyone and their dog to be talking about, so you might look into getting this done.

oh, and I would be very mad. I would be the mom at the school office "don't you know that your food damages my kid?! how hard is it NOT to posion my kid?"

[zip2play]

If this happens again, my suggestion is you walk the lunches to your children's classes. Hand it to them yourself. Then there is no question. KWIM?

It stinks, but those kind of things can happpen!

How old are your girls? I ask b/c my 4 year old knows what foods I can and cannot have.

Monica

[Jodele]

I have 3 girls they are 4, 5, and 8 years old. Melinda is my middle girl and she is the one i worrie about food. She love food and wants to eat all the time. We just started gluten-free when school started. She was upset that she ate the sack lunch and I talked to her that she could not do that again. It so hard teaching your kid to leason to teachers and do what they say and now I have to tell melinda not to leason to them now. hope I dont confuse her any. Emily my oldest is very good at asking if it is gluten-free and the funny thing is my youngest is very good to. Katie she was over at a friends house last saturday and was hungry so my friend went though her stock of food to find her something she could eat and found popcorn. Katie ask if popcorn was gluten free and my friend said yes and so katie ran around the house yelling "YEA POPCORN IS GLUTEN FREE!!! WE CAN EAT IT!!!" I thought that was so good that she knows she can not have gluten and she is only 4.

It is very trying but I think everything will turn out great. I know I am feeling better now and will only get better from here. I think I gluten my self yesterday with medication. Not feel my best right now and staying close to the bathroom. so I better get off here. and talk at ya later.

Jodele

[MaryKyburz]

I think school is going to be very challenging for us this year. My 6 yr old can't have gluten, casein, eggs, or dye. That's just about everything!! He is high functioning autistic, and hates the diet, so every opportunity he sees, he tries to sneak "bad" food. Second day of school the teacher said he took candy off of her desk. Third day of school he brought candy home in his backpak. I talked to the principle who said he would tell the lunch people to watch him (they have 2 adults in the cafeteria for 4 classrooms of kids.) Well, Friday I took him his lunch, and nobody was watching him. The kids were sitting so close together that all of their food was right in front of him. He was fixated on the cake and almost drooling. Last year he was pretty good about the diet. He would say "can I have that?" Now he is just angry and defiant about it all. He refuses to understand that the food will make him sick. I don't know how to make the school understand that they have to keep him away from the food. They had 3 projects in the classroom last week that involved making things with food. They also have their snacks on the playground, so that is another opportunity for him to sneak food from the other kids. They will probably decide that they just need to pull him out of the classroom during the food projects and probably make him eat lunch by himself in a seperate room. What about recess? No recess? This will be great for developing his social skills!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gfp]

I think school is going to be very challenging for us this year. My 6 yr old can't have gluten, casein, eggs, or dye. That's just about everything!! He is high functioning autistic, and hates the diet, so every opportunity he sees, he tries to sneak "bad" food. Second day of school the teacher said he took candy off of her desk. Third day of school he brought candy home in his backpak. I talked to the principle who said he would tell the lunch people to watch him (they have 2 adults in the cafeteria for 4 classrooms of kids.) Well, Friday I took him his lunch, and nobody was watching him. The kids were sitting so close together that all of their food was right in front of him. He was fixated on the cake and almost drooling. Last year he was pretty good about the diet. He would say "can I have that?" Now he is just angry and defiant about it all. He refuses to understand that the food will make him sick. I don't know how to make the school understand that they have to keep him away from the food. They had 3 projects in the classroom last week that involved making things with food. They also have their snacks on the playground, so that is another opportunity for him to sneak food from the other kids. They will probably decide that they just need to pull him out of the classroom during the food projects and probably make him eat lunch by himself in a seperate room. What about recess? No recess? This will be great for developing his social skills!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds ideal perhaps from his perspective.

I spent most of my time at school at 5-10 trying to get made to stand by myself in the corridor....especially in classes hwere the teacher made me sit next to someone.

Perhaps he's hoping not to be forced to have to eat with other kids????

[Nic]

I think school is going to be very challenging for us this year. My 6 yr old can't have gluten, casein, eggs, or dye. That's just about everything!! He is high functioning autistic, and hates the diet, so every opportunity he sees, he tries to sneak "bad" food. Second day of school the teacher said he took candy off of her desk. Third day of school he brought candy home in his backpak. I talked to the principle who said he would tell the lunch people to watch him (they have 2 adults in the cafeteria for 4 classrooms of kids.) Well, Friday I took him his lunch, and nobody was watching him. The kids were sitting so close together that all of their food was right in front of him. He was fixated on the cake and almost drooling. Last year he was pretty good about the diet. He would say "can I have that?" Now he is just angry and defiant about it all. He refuses to understand that the food will make him sick. I don't know how to make the school understand that they have to keep him away from the food. They had 3 projects in the classroom last week that involved making things with food. They also have their snacks on the playground, so that is another opportunity for him to sneak food from the other kids. They will probably decide that they just need to pull him out of the classroom during the food projects and probably make him eat lunch by himself in a seperate room. What about recess? No recess? This will be great for developing his social skills!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi, since he is high functioning autistic has he been assigned a classroom aid? I had an ADHD child this school year in my class and her lunch time behavior was very reckless and therefore dangerous so we asked the principal to assign her an aid at lunch time as well. I know ADHD is different than autism but is it possible to fight for him to have an aid at lunch time? I am assuming he is classified, if he is go to the child study team with your concerns. He should not be isolated from the class, the school needs to accomodate his needs.

Nicole