Do you remember going out for Halloween and getting home and running to the table to dump all your candy out? And how excited you were to start eating all the yummy goodies laying out in front of you with the biggest smile on your face? You probably just jumped right in without even thinking about anything and started enjoying your candy.
What if all of a sudden your mom yelled, “Stop!” or “Don’t eat anything!” as she comes running to the table. That smile would go away real fast, right? After all, you are just a kid who wants some candy, right? Then she starts going through your candy one by one and ends up taking most of it away from you. “What are you doing with my candy?” you ask. “I’m sorry, but I need to take this candy away. If you eat it, you will get really sick,” she replies.
This is the reality for millions of children in the US who live with food allergies. And unfortunately, it doesn’t stop with just food. Kids are even reacting to the dyes used to color food, commonly red and yellow dyes and even ingredients used in children’s modeling clay products which commonly contain wheat. These reactions can cause anything from simple hives to life-threatening anaphylactic shock.
This will be our fifth year participating in the Teal Pumpkin Project. I learned about it online after I was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis (please don’t try to say that). Basically, if I eat a food I’m allergic to, my esophagus gets swollen, but it’s different from anaphylactic shock. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was in my mid-twenties, so my trick-or-treating days were long over. But I couldn’t help but think of what kids go through who do have their food allergies in childhood. After all, food allergies are so different now than when we were kids. According to Food Allergy Research and Education’s (or FARE) website: “The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reports that the prevalence of food allergy in children increased by 50 percent between 1997 and 2011.” FARE’s mission is to improve the quality of life and the health of individuals with food allergies and to provide them hope through the promise of new treatments.
I can only imagine how hard it can be on some children participating in Halloween activities. As an adult living with food allergies for the last six years, I still get anxious thinking about attending certain events or eating out. Using my lactose intolerant toddler as an example, trying to get him to understand that if he eats too much of certain foods he will get sick. But to actually have my child avoid a certain food (or even foods) because of a very real life or death situation and to trust that their teachers and caretakers will also be aware, is just unfathomable to me and those parents deserve all the love. So, how can we help these children out?
Here are some ideas for non-food Halloween treats:
- Animal figurines
- Bubbles
- Cars
- Costume jewelry
- Glow sticks
- Maze games
- Pencils
- Puppets
- Stamps
- Stencils
- Stickers
- Yo-yos
You can hand these out as you wish. Some homes simply have a candy bowl and a non-food bowl and let the kids choose what non-food treats they want. I personally put little goodie bags together of non-food treats and hand those out as needed.
So how do you know who is participating in the Teal Pumpkin Project? Here’s the Teal Pumpkin Project map where you can look up your neighborhood, or even add your home to the map if you are participating in handing out non-edible goodies. You’ll also want to look for houses that have teal pumpkins outside or have a sign that says the home is participating in the Teal Pumpkin Project. FARE even has some signs or flyers you can print out here.
For more information about food allergies, visit FARE’s website at www.foodallergy.org.
You can follow along with Claire and all her motherhood adventures and food allergy-friendly finds on Instagram @daytodayclaire.
