Schooling My Primal Children

It's amazing to me that with the number of celiac sufferers there has not been any effort to adjust the school systems regulations of food.

Luckily for me I began homeschooling about six months before I became aware of our allergy to gluten and embarked on this primal journey.  I managed to avoid the necessary decision to remove my children from public schools based on their failure to adhere to diet restrictions.  However, in the recent months with our contemplating moving there has been a consideration of placing our children back in public schools.  It was called to attention by a friend of mine that her child is allergic to milk and the school her child attends was notified and failed to comply.  This is a real concern for many parents aware of gluten intolerance.

Then, I began to realize we really could not place our children back in public school.  At that I began to question what people whose children are gluten intolerant generally do to accommodate these issues.  Aside from packing lunches that are acceptable what can we do to make sure that our children are not eating foods that will make them sick? 

Honestly, at this point I am not sure there is much other than homeschooling a child that anyone can do to protect against this.  Of course, parents should inform children and school of the allergens; but as long as government provides foods at the cheapest possible rate regardless of quality (Where did Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution go to anyway?) there will always be high concentrations of gluten in schools.  There is no way that the teachers can monitor each child's food consumption throughout the entire lunch, and children could easily be tempted with those foods sitting right next to them.

There are definitely other benefits to homeschooling my children and I think this is a great opportunity to stay home with them and teach them about health and core subjects together, but it really brought it home to me when I was thinking about it today that until high school I would probably be homeschooling all of my children :-) 

I have a few ideas on how to make this a little easier on everyone:

• Make sure the teacher understands that your child may need to go to the bathroom more frequent or abrupt, and have an established code between the child and teacher to make it less of a distraction or discomfort.
• Be sure to educate your child about why swapping food is not a good idea.  Make sure to let them know about how you balance their diet to help them stay full too.
• Get a list of birthdays and other class events so you can have a special treat ready for those.
• Leave the teacher with some gluten-free snacks and treats that your child can have as a backup plan.

**Remember, a lot of people are not really sure of what gluten intolerence is.  Be sure to share with those who need to know (teachers, nutritionists, and principals) exactly what this is and how it affects your child.  If they are not aware they may not take it very seriously.  Also, make sure to be open and friendly regarding any questions you may receive about it; your child learns from how you respond.

Tell me primal parents what are you doing to address this? 

Here are some pics from our primal park day this week, it was a wonderful social day in the park.  Check out that gorgeous blue sky!  When do you get to see that in Missouri winter?  LOVE IT!  Hope you enjoy!