It’s our first Halloween since our 4 year old son was diagnosed with life-threatening food allergies.
We love Halloween, and always will, but this year is different. There is so much more at stake. There is so much more to think about.
A holiday that once brought total joy, now brings a certain amount of fright.
Deciding whether or not to allow your child with food allergies to continue to trick or treat is a personal choice. One not to be taken lightly. Food Allergy Parents will have many questions such as:
- Will the safe candy we receive be cross contaminated?
- Will my child eat any unsafe candy while I’m not looking?
- Should my child wear gloves?
- Should we only accept non-candy goodies?
- Will we see any teal pumpkins, as part of the Teal Pumpkin Project?
- When should I switch out the unsafe candy for safe candy?
- Is the Switch Witch real? Does she hang out with the Elf on the Shelf?
- Is trick or treating really worth the risk?
This year we have decided to take the risk, with many precautions such as switching out his collected candy with pre-selected candy. This pre-selected candy will be allergen free, and will combine safe treats we find at local stores such as Whoppers, Smarties, Dum Dum lollipops, Charleston Chews, and items we will order from Vermont Nut Free Candy Company. We will also include some non-candy treats.
We want to try to let our son have as normal a childhood as possible, despite his food allergies. He may act like a purple minion during a tantrum, but he deserves to have fun.
He will be dressed as Super Mario, and his sister will be dressed as Luigi. I can’t wait to see them together! He will wear gloves, and learn to conquer Halloween with food allergies. He will be powered up with the love, strength, and education we are providing him with.
And we hope he has a wonderful and safe Halloween this year. I wish that for all of your children too.
As parents we have to trust our gut instincts as we make many decisions, big and small.
We may decide to continue the tradition of trick or treating, or not.
We may decide to host a house party instead.
We may decide to do start a new tradition on October 31st.
And whatever we decide is okay, because we are good enough and we are smart enough to make those decisions.
There are many dangers lurking out there, too many to count.
We must weigh the risks, and do our best.
We may lose some sleep as we ponder certain decisions.
That is because we love our little ghosts, ghouls & goblins more than anything.
We would sleep in a cabin at Camp Crystal Lake for them, we would battle Freddy in our dreams for them, we would fight Michael Myers better than Jamie Lee Curtis ever could for them.
We will learn to trust our instincts.
We will use our intuition as awesome food allergy parents!
Because we know that parent intuition trumps all…..
Republished with permission from Nuts about My Son
