The other thing is that they lump things like peanuts in with tree nuts. SO, my child's class is SUPPOSE to be "NUT Free" right? But nuts are not actually what my child is allergic to... peanuts are not tree-nuts (they are actually not nuts at all, they are legumes). So, at some point a parent may see my son eating products containing "nuts" and assume I am lying or exaggerating but obviously I am not because my son is fatally allergic to peanuts (and lentils) but is fine with all kinds of tree nuts. It may be mere ignorance as to the child's allergy by non-related resentful parents leading them to say "Oh I saw her DS eating nuts - she is lying about his being allergic!"
Quite honestly, life with a food allergy is very hard. Parenting a child with a food allergy is so flipping stressful and hard. I know there may be a few weirdos here and there ,like in any population, that lie but I am really skeptical it is to huge extent. The abuse and nasty things said to the child and the parents is NOT FUN or special or pleasant. The attention quite honestly is not nice at all. Maybe it's geographical, but there ain't nobody lying about it here in my neck of the woods so much so that kids with valid allergies are putting themselves at risk to "fit in" and not be banished from lunch tables and lunch bunches (and I do KNOW kids personally who do that). I think it would be the rare individual that would truly lie about here. Seriously. It's a nasty experience.
