Originally Posted by Mk13
Also, how did you handle field trips? I am inclined to NOT letting him go on field trips this little simply because there will be too many risks (other people going there, cross contamination on the bus, at eating areas, etc.). One option would be me going as well but they don't allow siblings going along and I don't have anyone to watch DS3. So unless the school would guarantee there would be a trained person going on the field trip, I am just not comfortable to let him go. Or am I taking this too far? Just as some of you, I have had far too many experiences where the allergies just weren't taken seriously and we ended up with a few very close calls.

There are going to be some things you can plan for and use in your decision making as you look at schools, and other things you are going to have to plan-as-you-go - field trips might be one of those type of things. Our kids' elementary school didn't have buses so parents always drove on field trips. I went along on field trips and drove kids in my car so I could be sure my dd had a safe car to ride in (and an epipen-trained adult in the car). You might find that there are other parents of kids with food allergies - there was another mom in my dd's kindergarten class who's child was ana-allergic to peanuts, so she also had a "clean" car and knew how to use an epipen, so I was ok with dd riding in her car.

The thing you can't predict ahead of time are the bizarre ideas/policies etc that might crop up at school that you never think to ask about. This happened with us and field trips. I didn't think about it on the first few trips because I was carrying an epipen anyway for dd. The school packages up epipens/meds etc needed for each child and gives them all to the teacher to carry. So this other mom and I had been driving our own kids and not worrying about those epipens because we had our own in our cars. Then there was a field trip where I wasn't going to be driving but the other mom was. BUT - she didn't have an epipen with her that day and she asked to get the meds for her ds and my dd to carry in her car... and... the school wouldn't let her! That's how we found out that the only person authorized to carry student meds on the field trip was the teacher, so if we were going to send our dd on a field trip where she was riding with another parent who didn't carry around an epipen for fun (joke about the fun part!).... dd would be riding in a car without an epipen.

Soooo... little things like that seemed to always be lurking - so you can plan for as much as you can predict, but also know that there will be things you can't plan for until you find out about them! But I'm guessing you've probably already experienced that!

Best wishes,

polarbear