“My name is Gilad and I have peanut allergy” (HOW TO EDUCATE YOUR CHILD ABOUT HIS/HER ANAPHYLAXIS ALLERGY)

Last thursday my son (almost 6 years old) had his turn of NEWS in school. We decided that he would stand in front of  the class (kindergarten class) and tell them about his allergy. When I came to pick up my son that day, and asked his teacher how he

went with his news, she said he did it so well that he actually done it twice: once in front of his class and the second time in front of the whole kindergarten classes (approx 90 kids). She told me he told everyone that if he'll eat peanuts he will die. He also told them about the EpiPen injection he has to take with him everywhere and explained what for. The teacher told me he did it really good and was seriouse about it and very informative.

GOOD! I am glad that the way we “pumped” Gilad with this issue is working!

Gilad's allergy was discovered when he was approx 18 months old. Of course at that age explaining was different, but from the beginning, I decided not to lie or hide the truth or tell it different. I always told him from the beginning that peanuts will cause him to die, and that they are very dangerouse to him etc. the more he grew, the more details were addedd to the explanations, but the basics were the same – telling the truth, no matter what.

A lot of people think that it is better to tell children at young age that a certain food would make them very sick. I belive that telling the truth to the child – that certain food would make him die – is much better. If you start at a young age, they accept it easyly, and infact there are no fears and nightmares following, if you start with the truth when they are young.

I also belive that when it comes to this subject, there is a constant need to explain it over and over again, everyday, 50 times a day. The reason for that is because children have a short term memory, and what you said earlier (ÿou can't eat this cake, it has peanuts”) will be forgotton 2 hours later at a friends place when there is a different cake served at the table.

So if you have an anaphylaxis child, please try to:

1. explain to him/her the allergy as simple as possible with words they canb understand and stick to the truth (for example: “you cannot eat XXXXX because it will make you die. The XXXXX is very dangerouse for you! It is called ALLERGY. It means you are allergic to XXXXX”)

2. emphesis on your support (for example: “this is why we always have to check food and ask other people to check it, because we love you”)

3. explain what it is involved living with an allergy (for example: “this is why I always check the food and read the ingrediants to see that there is no XXXXX in there”... “wait, I need to read the ingrediants before I can give this to you”... - at this stage, my son asks me to read the ingrediants!)

4. emphesis on other people's mistakes (for example: “I know that they told you that XXXX will make you sick, but that's not true. It will only make you die”).

5. make rules of who your son can trust when it comes to food (for example: "you can only take food from mom, dad, this teacher and this adult. if a child tells you this food is ok - you CANNOT take the food from him".)

6. Explain the meaning of death in very simple way without causing fears or hopes or dreams (for example: “when we die we are going for good. There is no more us. If someone dies he is not with us anymore, and that is very very sad”).

7. Repeat, over and over and over. NEVER STOP! To your child and to those who surround him/her.

   THis is a very short article just as guidelines. I would be more then happy to help anyone who needs more explanations and ideas.