I love peanuts. I love peanut butter, chocolate-peanut-butter ice cream, peanut puffs and peanut butter cookies. My kid gets peanut butter in her hair when she dips her apple slices in it, and I call her a peanut butter monster after she finishes her snack. I am also the lucky parent who gets to mark “none” on all the forms asking about food allergies. Which means I am not as up-to-date as other families about how to keep everyone safe around common allergens. But with many families facing allergies to everything from nuts to wheat to eggs, I am aware that we all have a responsibility to one another. We are charged with keeping other children of God safe and healthy — not just when they visit our homes, but at playgrounds, schools and churches, too.
This is not a position I come to easily. I was full of complaints when I discovered all the foods my daughter could not bring in her lunch when she started nursery school due to allergies in the class. Still, practically every evening when I pack her lunch, I nearly pack something that is a no-no. Then, blessedly, I remember. I admit, I still grumble a little inside as I look for something other than peanut butter crackers to fill the last section of her Bento box. But I am also trying to keep in mind the child who can safely eat next to mine at the tiny tables in the classroom because I have abided the rules. I am trying to think of the mother who holds her breath every day, trusting all of the rest of us not to mess up, not to forget, so that her kid continues breathing.
This issue of food allergies has become a part of my life even though it is not a part of my life. I find that it touches my faith and my sense of community. I am called to care for others, even those I don’t know. I am called to watch out for vulnerable ones, even in this very modern way. I am called to put the needs of others first, even when it is a minor inconvenience to me. These are not things our society is very good at these days. Yet we cannot avoid them. In my area, it’s rare that any public kids’ space allows food with nuts at all. School cafeterias have signs and reminders about allergens. And as I learn more about the severity of allergies and the life changes many families undertake to keep their kids safe, I am even learning how to make my own home safer: Be aware of hand towels, food eaten on the sofa, a swing-set where peanut-buttery hands might have recently gripped the handles.
Although I was disheartened to read articles like this one, which discusses how food allergies are new source for bullying among kids, I wonder if sensitizing our children to the reality of food allergies might be a new way to teach them about caring for one another in community. Might knowing other kids with allergies, helping kids keep their friends safe and making different decisions in their own lives because of these issues actually help children practice the love of God?
This generation may grow up internalizing their role in taking care of peers who are vulnerable to certain foods. Perhaps these actions, if we encourage them, show our children that there are many areas where we are called to look out for others, even when it impacts us. We are called to give up a little, so that others can simply live regular, healthy lives. We are called to think of others, even those we will never meet, to ensure the safety of all. If we do this, I wonder what individual privileges our children might be willing to budge on in order to ensure that everyone is safe? I wonder in what ways they will choose to change their own habits for the common good? Perhaps if we seize upon everyday situations like allergies as a way to teach the practices of our faith, we might find that our values stick. Children might grow to understand that acting like Jesus is something embedded in our daily lives, not something that only special, holy people do.
EMMA NICKEL serves as pastor/head of staff at First Presbyterian Church in Royal Oak, Michigan. She is passionate about congregational ministry, trying new recipes, and learning more about parenting. She lives just outside Detroit with her husband, Matt, and their two daughters.
