Back To School Stress is a Worldwide Issue

Mel from Pig in the Kitchen recently wrote a piece about what it's like to prep for back to school when your child has food allergies.  What we love about this (other than its humorous tone) is that it illuminates how similar we all really are.

We could have written this ourselves, despite the fact that we're all the way across the Pond.  OK fine, so we might say "expiration" instead of "expiry", but you get the idea peeps.


Thanks for sharing, Mel, and thanks for giving yours truly some content to post in a month with so little free time :)

Working Mothers in September

September is by far the hardest month to be a working mother (Truthfully, it's probably the hardest month to be a working parent, period, but since we've only experienced the mother side of it personally, we can only speak to that.) 

We've been saying this for years.  Since 2007, to be exact.  Last year, we even wrote about it on someone else's blog, so that makes it even more legitimate!

So imagine the validation we felt when Laura Rowley shared the same exact insight over at the Huffington Post this week.

This is an issue that's not talked about enough, so we're glad to see this being elevated in the public consciousness.  Please share her piece with as many parents as you can think of.   It's a good first step to creating a more family-friendly culture in the workplace, something we believe is more critical for successful companies than they realize....mostly because people don't talk about this stuff enough.

As always, you heard it here first, peeps.

Moin Moin Speaks

Follow the adventures of our new fuzzy friend as this sweet little lamb navigates the complicated world we live in today. 

On Children and Pamphlets

After several years of motherhood, we're used to being prepared for certain situations.  Lately, we've got you covered in ways one would never have guessed.

That's right, if you've been dying to work at the Gap, boy do we have the application for you.  Find yourself wanting nutrition information on Starbucks beyond just the calories they post? Look no further than our kitchen.  Feel like making a big donation to a synagogue, even if you may not be Jewish?  Oh, do we have the pamphlet for you, peeps.

We've got pamphlets upon pamphlets upon pamphlets.  Political pamphlets, pamphlets to help you talk about your grief, pamphlets to help you part with your money, and even pamphlets in Spanish.

Why, you ask?

Because, apparently, children go through phases and we are now in the little-documented "pamphlet phase".  After digging out of a sea of paper we set out to find out more information about this odd phase, seeing as how we can't possibly be the only parent going through this.  After finding little information online about sating your child's appetite for collecting random pamphlets, we thought we'd share for the benefit of others.

What are the signs that we're in a full-fledged pamphlet phase? Mini's face lights up whenever she finds a pamphlet.  In waiting rooms she happily walks around hoarding them, making sure she has one of everything.  Rather than avoiding those people on the street handing out paper, she flocks to them, grinning from ear to ear after she sees just how many pamphlets they have to offer.  And lest you mistakenly think she is not aware of what she is collecting, allow us the indulgence of telling you about the last time we were on line at Barnes and Noble.  Despite the fact that this mother was purchasing her three (three!) brand new books, upon seeing the membership applications at the register mini abandoned all good feelings toward the books and exclaimed "pamphlets!"  She promptly grabbed one, handed it to her mother, and said "Here, Mama, another pamphlet for us to keep for my collection" and grinned.

However, as we're told nature has a way of working things out and that children do have survival instincts, we're sure that the famous pamphlet phase will be followed by the next common phase of childhood: 

urban dwelling syndrome (noun): the sudden realization of just how shockingly small your apartment really is, and how few things you'll actually be able to fit inside.

Sorry, kid, if you want another red then something's got to go

The Allergy Mom Back-to-School Wish List

Groan.

We know, you thought we were in for another "Back to school with food allergies" post.  No, peeps,  Though we probably should post one, truth is there has been an explosion in the amount of information available in this stuff: so much so, that anything we had to offer would be highly redundant and even more highly yawn-inducing.  The truth is, even though we've only been dealing with this managing a food allergy a few years, the changes we have seen in awareness in the past few years are HUGE.

For example, there are now so many more allergy-friendly brands to choose from - we can get cake mixes, frosting, cookies, granola bars, chips, etc. and the selection is big and growing.  Soy nut butter has become so mainstream it's in the regular supermarket.  Five years ago no one we knew (except us) had heard of that stuff, much less used it regularly.

No really, they are. See?

Other changes? Airlines are becoming more accommodating: Delta, for instance, just changed its policy from three nut-free rows forward and back to a whole nut free plane if you give them advance warning.

Food allergy awareness posters are easily visible in many New York restaurants.

States are beginning to pass laws that would allow schools to carry epinephrine to administer to students in an emergency.  This is huge as many allergic reactions in school happen to kids before they are even diagnosed.

In fact, one company is even providing free Epipens to schools in order to prevent cost from becoming a barrier to obtaining potentially life-saving medicine.  Read more about it here: http://www.EpiPen4Schools.com/

If that's not proof enough for you skeptics out there that knowledge and sensitivity to food allergies is becoming more mainstream, we have one more point for you: less eyerolls.  Yes, we still get lots, but we get significantly less "you're crazy, lady" eyerolls than we used to even three years ago.  These are statistically significant quantitative eyeroll differences, peeps.

But a step in the right direction isn't enough, is it?  So, we present our food allergy wish list, brought to you by one crazy mother in New York.  We predict that all of these will be true 10 years from now.

Top Ten Eleven Predictions for Food Allergies in Ten Years

Top of the Wish List? A cure for food allergies

1.  "Nut free" or "gluten free" meals will become standard options for all airlines.  Yes, we'll all probably be paying $39.99 for airline meals at that point, but the allergy options will be standard.  Nuts will no longer be distributed on any flight.

2.  School and college cafeterias will have standard "allergen free" sections as routine part of meal preparation.  Knowledge of safety and cross-contamination will be an automatic part of any kitchen safety training.  

3.  Ingredient lists will be readily available; all will clearly label the possible presence or contamination of allergens.

4.  All MLB stadiums will have nut free sections.

5. Much like the "first aid for choking signs", all restaurants and public places that have food will have "first aid for anaphylaxis" signs.  In addition,  Epinephrine will be standard issue as part of any first-aid kit for schools, libraries, restaurants, camps, etc.  All Red Cross first aid classes will automatically include training on anaphylaxis.

6. Allergy-friendly Halloween candy.  'Nuff said.

7. Getting allergy-friendly food and an adult to take responsibility of epinephrine at a drop-off birthday party will become standard. 

8. Gap, Old Navy, Children's Place or some mainstream brand of children's clothing will make cargo pants with a special epinephrine pocket.

9. Auto-injectors will talk to you, reducing human error in training.  Oh wait, that already happened last week.

10. There will be a vaccine to prevent food allergies, or a treatment to prevent them from being life-threatening.

11. "Anaphylaxis" will become a standard term in spell-check.