Going to Camp With Food Allergies
The other day my daughter said, “Mommy, I think I’d like to go to camp this summer. All my friends are going to camp. Can I go to camp too?”
I dreaded this moment. Between her entering kindergarten in the fall and the new baby coming in August, I was hoping to enjoy every moment of this last lazy summer together — just me and her. But an even more compelling reason for my dread is that I am scared to let her go because I am uncertain how her food allergies will be managed.
What did we decide to do about camp? Well, we didn’t sign her up at any of the camps where her friends were going … they were too many hours/day (9 am-3pm) or too many weeks (6 weeks). We found a seemingly perfect compromise: a two-week camp at a local elementary school that is AM only (no lunch served). Wish us luck. If all goes well, perhaps I will be willing to let her go for longer next year.
But as I pondered our decision, I searched the the news wires and blogosphere for families with children slightly older than mine to learn how they handled this dilemma. The stories ranged from encouraging to disheartening. I point you to the extremes, and hope you find them useful as you make summer plans for your little ones.
I particularly related to the story, “Going to Sixth Grade Camp With Food Allergies,” posted in the blog Parenting A Child with a Food Allergy. The mother seems like a good role model for empowering her daughter to embrace challenges she was ready for, despite the mother’s own reluctance to let go. I also think her pragmatic approach, “to convey concern without using life threatening allergy language or other alarm ringers” is a wise lesson I should take to heart as I meet with her new school principal and camp director.
Two very disturbing stories come out of an article posted in the Daily News Online, Allergy policy draws fire in Amesbury. The article features two children in Amesbury, MA, who were rejected from a public park summer program because of their food allergies. Parents of 6 year-old Alex Devlin, allergic to peanuts and eggs, were told their son couldn’t attend the summer camp because counselors are not allowed to administer Epi-Pens. The Amesbury recreation director concedes that they could train all staff in how to use Epi-Pens, but claims it is too difficult to control food allergies in an outdoor camp environment, “especially since what kids bring to the programs for snacks and lunches is predominantly peanut butter.” The other family highlighted in this news article, the McCarthy family, had been told last year that they would only admit their nut-allergic son if the parents signed a waiver saying the town wasn’t responsible if something happened, and if they didn’t send his EpiPen. The mother was told by the youth recreation office that her son’s allergy would be too difficult for an outdoor camp to manage, and that “she should consider sending him to a private, indoor camp.”
And if you haven’t yet seen it, FAAN also posts some useful guidelines for managing food allergies at camp. Check it out!