Alexander the Elephant
>> Sunday, August 17, 2008
T-Minus 15 days until the start of school, and sending my sweet allergic kid off by herself. I have my own anxieties, obviously, and I try to find the balance between reminding/educating Brynn on her allergies but not making her into a Nervous Nelly. One thing she likes doing is role playing through the possible situations she might face in school: If someone offers her a snack, if someone teases her, if she has a reaction.
Today in the library, amidst all the WonderPets, Angelina Ballerina and CareBears DVDs, I spotted this sweet little DVD, "Alexander the Elephant Who Couldn't Eat Peanuts " from FAAN. It's about 10 minutes long, has a little story about an elephant with peanut allergies and then a short section at the end with kids telling about their allergies. Brynn watched it 5 times in a row, absolutely spellbound to hear about someone else with food allergies. She got to hear the message over and over again without me drilling it into her head. Her favorite part was when Sally the Seal with a fish allergy is accidentally given a fish, has a reaction, and gets a Epi-Pen. (From the other room I hear the conversation "Hey Katie, that's just like when mom gave me the wrong milk and I got my leg-poke" Ugh!).
4 comments:
Awwe, bless your heart! My mom is a first grade teacher and one of the things she sends out at the beginning of the school year is a request for snacks. Now, you and I know that snacks for most children can be just about anything, but with food allergies snacks have to be diligently ingredient checked or something horrible could happen. Can be so cruddy for the allergic little ones b/c they feel left out - in a sense. BUT, one thing I noticed visiting her class is that there is always someone with a food allergy, and the other kids are sensitive to it and loving about it.
Oh, we're big Allie the Allergic Elephant folks - and that reminds me: I need to get a copy for the Toddles' preschool class.
Typically, I send the boys with an age-appropriate allergy storybook for the kids to read, and a copy of the FAAN cookbook for the teachers. And I'd better hustle if I'm to have them in time - the Toddles' very first day of school is coming up fast...
Thanks for posting about this video! We know people with an allergic kid and when we have kids of our own I think this would be helpful in explaining about his allergies.
We liked the Arthur episode about food allergies. I'll have to try and find the Alexander dvd at the library.
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