After last week’s mix-up of Dean’s lunch, I had several discussions with Dean’s teachers and the staff about ways to ensure something similar does not happen again.  I’m sure it’s easy to judge and wonder how in the world something like giving a bowl of pasta to a kid who’s allergic to wheat could even happen in the first place.  And I’m sure a lot of people probably also think we’re nuts to even have him in a daycare (or wouldn’t feel comfortable with taking that type of risk) but believe it or not, there is often very good rationale behind why these things happen.  And it’s important to us for Dean to not be the “bubble” kid so we try wherever possible to ensure life is as “normal” as possible for him.

All it takes is a few slight mishaps here and there, and before you know it, a perfect storm is brewing all based on circumstance: we sent Dean’s menu very late Sunday night, kitchen staff didn’t get it in time, kitchen cook knows that Dean has food allergies and checks system, Dean is flagged as the “no dairy” menu since they don’t have a category for “kid who’s allergic to just about everything” menu, kitchen cook preps pasta from the no dairy menu, teachers in room see pasta and think, ‘What? This is pasta.  Dean can’t eat pasta.”, due to a change in morning drop-off schedules, Matt and I forget to drop off his altered menu to his room so they don’t have a menu from us to check against, teacher calls kitchen to confirm, unfamiliar cook says, “Yes, it’s his special pasta.  I checked the system.  He got special pasta”, teachers in the room believe it’s OK (we often bring in safe versions of Dean’s food like gluten-free fish sticks when there are regular fish sticks for lunch so it would be perfectly logical that we brought in safe pasta), and so we end up with a kid who’s anaphylactic to wheat getting a bowl full of wheat pasta.  His teachers feel awful, the kitchen staff feels awful, and given that this is the second mix-up, we all know that something has to change.

So Friday last week, I met with five staff members at Dean’s school: the center director, the head of the kitchen, the head of environmental health & safety (EHS), the head of toddler program, and the group leader of Dean’s teachers.  We put our heads together and decided on the following changes, not only for Dean but some for all the kids at the center who have food allergies: