Skip to main content

Day 12

I cannot relate to parents who are spontaneous! There are so many things on my checklist before leaving the house that I cannot imagine hopping in the car and seeing where the day takes us. I'm pretty sure I was that person before being a parent, but really who can remember. I run a tight ship with a plan and a detailed curriculum for every outing now a days.

For the past two days we have been doing some remodeling in our home. Because of this, I've needed to get the children away from the dangers and out of our normal "protected" environment. I've tried to keep things outdoor in an open aired environment, but there is always room for error out of my control. Control is something I clench to these days. Controlling our surroundings and the environments we put our daughter into are the "only" things that have prevented allergic reactions and worked for us. Relocating our lifestyle for even a day is a crippling task. It is so easy to get overwhelmed-- but we made it! As a family we choose not to focus on what makes us different-- instead the similarities we all share.

It is not my intention to write this blog to vent frustrations or bash other people's ignorance to life threatening food allergies. It is simply to educate a lifestyle conducive to food allergies and the lives affected by them. To wrap your brain around another perspective if only for a paragraph or two (for a little enlightenment). Sometimes just seeing another person's reality can change everything but I'll settle for a change in anything.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Going Global With Food Allergies

Have you ever looked at a map of the world, all laid out in front you, and thought, "hmmm...where to go?" Even if you are an adventurous, free-spirited person, food allergies have a way of paralyzingly our curiosity through fear. The constant need to have to be aware of all of our surroundings, naturally develops into taking less unnecessary trips; Always packing our own food and knowing the specific details of the environments we plan to enter ahead of time. The lack of general knowledge of food allergies in the public can force us into creating our own safety bubble. It's a cause and effect reaction that can force families with very severe food allergies to first, find themselves excluded, and then inevitably, because of their previous absence, not given any consideration.  People and the public, in general, can become a safety hazard. To make matters even more difficult and suspect, food itself becomes a weapon because of cross contamination, poor labeling, and very l...

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words?

The Story Behind the Picture    I  worry sometimes that this media sensationalized, ideal sense of "perfection" is vitally harming the younger generations. "Perfection" is a feeling, not an image. Feeling everything is going "perfectly" etc. But, we live in a materialistic, superficial world- where we are innately taught to perceive ourselves by our struggles or shortcomings, instead of searching for our gifts. We all have special gifts, and I hope our new growing generation learns to see beneath the surface enough to notice that in each other. It's not that everyone is the same and everyone deserves a trophy (and that whole plethora of an argument), it's more about appreciating differences and learning to seek the gift of individuality. There's a BIG difference. Our kids are being raised in a global, e-commerce, social media driven, multicultural world. We need to stay current with the changing world when raising kids today, in order to prote...

Day 59-65 "What is anaphylaxis"

All parent's of young children living with a life threatening food allergy live in a constant, round the clock state of fear. Fear of the unknown, fear that our children cannot communicate their immediate needs and symptoms, and fear of putting anyone else in charge of managing this extremely dangerous allergy. Releasing control and delegating responsibilities is definitely where I struggle the most because, for me, handing that over to another person can be the biggest mistake I make. I'm not at all worried that a caregiver would not follow our rules and feed my darling junk food or too much sugar, let her watch too much TV, not use her manners, or let her negotiate her way on everything--- like most parent's would be concerned with. I'm worried that they might misread an ingredient, and show up at my house with cow's milk proteins lingering on their body or garments. I'm worried that they are oblivious to the MANY different ways that milk proteins are presen...