The Dangers of Food Allergy Bullying
Let’s be honest: raising children and teens isn’t easy. As parents, we come to many forks in the road when deciding how to react to specific situations with our kids. No matter the parenting style — laid-back, nurturing, authoritarian, over-bearing, or (likely) a fusion of multiple approaches — whichever direction you take is influenced by past experience when you’ve had to cope with and support your child through issues he or she has faced. I began to see stories recently, this summer in particular, about children in middle schools and high schools bullying other students that have food allergies, and I was taken aback. If my child had severe food allergies, how would I deal with this kind of problem?
All forms of bullying — on social media, school grounds, or in the workplace — follow the same model; the perpetrator has a thirst to elevate his or her status over the victim. I want to shed light on food allergy bullying not only because it inflicts so much psychological devastation on our kids and teens, but also because these allergies can be life-threatening.
For example, a classmate who doesn’t realize the gravity of the situation might sneak peanut butter into the lunchbox of a child who can’t touch, smell or ingest peanuts. That ‘joke’ ends with a trip to the emergency room. A bully crosses the line with verbal taunts; it’s even more frightening if the harassment fuels the possibility of a severe physical reaction. However, it is possible to help stop food allergy bullying, and that effort starts by preaching reminders like these.
Bullied kids and teens will start feeling unsafe, may become afraid to go to school, and might not talk to you about it; this is even more worrying if their lives are in danger because of severe allergies.
But I realized that it’s not just kids who bully out of ignorance. Erika Dacunha, a young teen with multiple severe allergies, wrote a beautiful article about her struggles. What struck me most was her account of the parents who complained that Erika’s allergies would inconvenience their children and dip into the school’s funds. Apparently some later apologized after her mother explained that food allergies weren’t a lifestyle choice. But this is proof that we don’t just need to educate children.