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Food Allergy Foes: Equipping Your Little One to Explain Food Allergies When You Aren’t Nearby

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Food allergies in adults can be challenging, but food allergies in children take on a whole new level of both challenge and trepidation. Because our children can’t be with us all the time, we have to find ways to make sure they are safe and protected even when we aren’t nearby. Help your child become his or her own best advocate when it comes to food allergies with the help of these important tips.

1. Give Them a Crash Course. Perhaps your child has known she can’t have tree nuts (or whatever the allergy may be) since she was very little, but still doesn’t know much more than that basic fact as she’s grown. Talk with your child to make sure his understanding of his allergy and food restrictions is age appropriate. Children often can understand more than we realize. Knowledge is a power in a situation as serious as food allergies.

2. Go Pro. Consider scheduling a time with your child’s pediatrician or allergist to give your child a crash course not only on what foods he or she must avoid, but also why it’s important to skip them, consequences of ingesting them, and what to do if the allergen is accidentally consumed. Plenty of expert written books and websites are available to help you make sure your child has a firm, age-appropriate grasp on his allergy as well.

3. Practice Role Playing. Help your child take her knowledge about her food allergy from theoretical to practical by practicing role playing. Pretend to be various people to whom your child may need explain his allergy, such as peers, field trip chaperones, and cafeteria workers. Favorite stuffed animals or other toys can make this activity even more fun!

*Bonus Tip: Identify Other Support Systems. While being able to advocate for his or her own health a vital lifelong skill for children to have, putting a scaffolding of support systems around them as they learn how to explain their allergy can be a very critical tool to have in place. Talk with your child’s teacher and school administration, church leaders, close relatives, his friends’ parents, and any neighbors he may see frequently. Still make it your child’s responsibility to explain her food restrictions, but have this scaffolding of support in place to assure the greatest level of safety for you child.

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Author: Coach Kim

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