Six Of The Best Ways To Teach Food Allergy Awareness and Empower Your Food Allergy Toddler
I wrote an article about empowering your food allergy kids a few months back. Since then, I’ve had several moms ask me about young children and how to empower their preschoolers.
I honestly love that moms are thinking about this because you can’t start this too soon. Kids who see and learn good habits when they’re young are so much more likely to keep up with those habits when they’re older. What you do now lays the groundwork for food allergy teens (which from what I’ve heard is one of the hardest stages when it comes to worrying and hoping they’ll make safe food allergy choices). So if you’re reading this and thinking about this now, yay!!
If you’re in the toddler stage now, I encourage you to read my other post about older kids too. It’s a good idea to keep those tips in mind because that older stage will come faster than you think. Not only that, but you can start to model those habits now so they feel like second nature as your little one gets older.
I want you to know that it’s never too late to empower your food allergy kids, so no matter what stage you’re at, you’ll find the tips in this blog or the other one I wrote helpful!
This video goes into more detail about why this is important. Check it out, or continue to the tips below.
Hey there, I’m Corinna!
I help severe food allergy parents keep their kids safe without missing out on life at home, school, at social events, and while traveling. I believe that food allergy families and kids deserve safe & fulfilling life experiences, and it’s my goal to help you get that!
If you believe this too, make sure to sign up for my free top allergy-free recipe ebook. You’ll get 5 days of recipes that kids love (including breakfast, snacks, and dinner) PLUS I’ll keep you in the loop about the allergy lifestyle workshops I offer and ways to connect with hundreds of other anaphylactic food allergy mamas like you! Hope to see you there!
1.Explain what you’re doing to keep them safe and why.
If you keep your child safe, but never let them in on what you’re doing, they won’t understand the responsibility and won’t be used to it when it’s their turn.
For example, when you read labels make sure to let your child know by saying things like: I’m going to make sure this food is safe by reading what’s in it. You can even show them the list as you do it. As they become better readers they’ll start to learn the words they’re looking for.
2. Carry the epinephrine everywhere.
Always make a point of bringing the epinephrine injector you use everywhere you go. Show your child that you are bringing it and start to “hype” the fact that when they’re bigger they’ll get to carry it themselves. By making it exciting and special now it will help them be more eager to carry it later.
We’ve always had a rule of thumb that says no epinephrine, no eating. This hasn’t always been easy to follow (for example, we’ve had to drive back 30 minutes to get the EpiPen when we forgot), but by making a point of it and showing your kids it’s important, your kids will make more of an effort themselves as they get older.
Our daughter was mature enough to carry her own EpiPen at school when she was in grade 1. Then when she was in grades 2-3 she started carrying it on her own outside of school too. We helped her get into the habit by using a reward chart. I also carry an extra EpiPen in my purse, but we want her to get in the habit of doing it herself.
3. Have them explain their food allergies to others.
Let your child tell others about their allergies as much as possible. My kids were pretty shy, so this didn’t come easily for them, but if you can gently encourage them as much as possible (without forcing) as they get older, it will help them to become more confident. As they say, practice makes perfect!
4. Get them used to the epinephrine and how it will help them if they have a food allergy reaction.
Show it to them often. Let them play with the trainer. The more they’re used to it, the less they will be afraid of it. Explain how it will help them get better if they accidentally eat their allergen. Be honest about it without scaring them and focus on the positive. For example, we always told our girls that they will feel a small “pinch” but after that, the reaction will go away and they’ll feel way better.
5. Put a medical bracelet on them with their food allergies listed.
This is especially important if you’ll be leaving your child at daycare or day camp or summer camps. The medical alert bracelet is what emergency personnel look for to help them understand what’s going on with a patient. The sooner you can get them wearing one of these the better. In the beginning, it will likely be a plastic version that can get wet. Then as they get older, you can get different styles depending on their age and lifestyle.
6. Wash hands before eating.
This one is helpful to keep the family healthy too. The quicker they get into this habit, the better!
Conclusion
I hope this helps you get started on a road to empowering your toddler with food allergies. Parenting is hard and can be a rocky road, but we can do this!! Getting our kids into the swing of healthy food allergy habits now will only help them (and us) as they get older.
If you like this topic, you can get my FULL GUIDE for Empowering Your Food Allergy Kid. You’ll get what I taught my daughter, PLUS what I WISH I would have taught her, now that I look back. It’s free and you can grab it here.
Let me know in the comments, what tip is most helpful for you? How will you empower your food-allergy toddler?
Watch this video for more in-depth information.
