Surviving School with Food Allergies

Did you know that most of our kids have experienced bullying due to their food allergies? According to ACAAI, "an astonishing 79 percent of food allergic children say they are bullied because of their food allergy. And 57 percent report being touched or harassed by a food allergen, such as peanuts, dairy and eggs." (you can read more here).

Bullying can impact our kids in a lot of ways.  As many of us know, many of our kids will find ways to get out of the class.  Whether it is somatic complaints to get to the nurses office (either made up or real based on stress), missing school all together, or poor academic performance, it takes it's toll. Kids who are bullied are more likely to have physical complaints, depression and anxiety (as well as associated symptoms), and have lower GPA's and test scores (read more about bullying here).  Additionally, recent research suggests that the impact of being bullied can carry into middle adulthood.

So what can we do? Stand up! See a commercial making fun of allergies? Change the channel and have a conversation about it.  Talk about bullying behavior.  Encourage kids to tell an adult if they see someone being bullied (or are being bullied).  And check out this video!