Kyle saw Sandy and, as usual, he ran over her like Dino used to do to Fred Flinstone, but with kisses and hugs instead of slobbering licks.  She walked him to the car and strapped him into his car seat.  Then Kyle said, “Mommy M&M’s, Mommy M&M’s.”  With that Kyle proudly pulled out a shiny yellow pack of M&M’s Peanuts, making my wife go into verbal convulsions.  Sandy managed to pull herself together after muttering a couple of unfavorable words unsuitable for even adult ears, and stormed back into the day care’s main office.

“Look!” Sandy instructed the day care’s director while holding up the M&M’s Peanuts and tapping her left foot up and down.  “Oh yes we had a birthday party for a boy,” said the usually pleasant lady with the 50′s hairdo.  Sandy, still thinking the lady knew what she was talking about, pointed at the M&M bag and said, “Peanuts, he cannot have peanuts, he has peanuts allergies, they’re very dangerous for him!”  The lady, who was now transforming into an evil witch in my wife’s eyes, paused a moment to let it sink in, then she remembered.  “Oh my Lord, we’re so sorry,” she said. 

My wife, half relieved, saw the evil lady’s face transforming back to its original shape and size, and she reinforced her message loud and clear, “My son is deathly allergic to peanuts, all nuts as a matter of fact.  It says so on his registration papers, and we’ve repeated this fact to your people over and over.”  The director, who’s an absolutely adorable and sweet lady, apologized and assured they would do everything in their power to not let it happen again.  

Peanuts allergies in children have doubled over the last few years and it’s something to be taken very seriously.  Approximately 100 people die of allergic reactions to peanuts every year in the US alone! 

If your child is allergic to peanuts and other nuts, make sure you furnish their day care or sitter with an EpiPen auto-injector and train or show them how to use it! 

Our son Kyle has already had two allergic reactions to peanuts while in another day care even after we stressed he could not come close to any type of peanut-related product.  On both occasions, Fire-Rescue responded quickly, treated him on the scene, and rushed him to the hospital.

It’s interesting to note that airlines report people suffering severe allergic reactions on flights merely by smelling peanuts being consumed by people around them!

To all you day care owners and workers out there, understand almost 1 out of every 100 children now suffer from severe peanuts allergies, and that number increases every year.  I know your job is tough enough as it is, but I, for one, am sick and tired of the excuses I hear every time my child has to suffer because of negligence.  When you have a child with peanuts allergies, you can’t even open a bottle of peanut butter anywhere in their presence.  The fumes emanating from these products are enough to send a severely allergic child into anaphylactic shock!