Finding The Right Kindergarten For My Little Munchkin.

I have my little munchkin starting three-year-old kindergarten next year. I am so excited to see him with his little backpack and his first little lunchbox. I figured that I was going to send him to the kindergarten that was central in the suburb that I live in. I thought this would be perfect. It is walking distance to where I will be living so my little munchkin and I could stroll to kinder or take his little bike. Once he turned two years old I had to submit my applications to the kindergartens of choice. I thought that I should ring and ask what their policies were with children and food allergies.

This was the first kinder I called and was told that children were still allowed to bring in peanut butter sandwiches. This scared me as my little munchkin may have a severe reaction should he come in contact with this product. I was told it was no big deal and that the child consuming the sandwich will be sitting at another table and will be taken to the basin to wash their hands once they have finished. At home I have no products that contain his allergens. I think I would be filled with anxiety if I were to leave him in an environment where he is faced with these allergens at such a young age. I do understand that we cannot control every environment that they will be in and that we need to educate them to understand what they can and cannot have. But I still believe that at three years old its very young for them to completely comprehended what will happen and how fast paced it is. I figured this was not good enough for him.

I called another local kindergarten and ask the same questions. The coordinator was so wonderful. She had invited me to visit the kinder and offered to give me a tour. I was told that families are advised not to send children to kinder with any products that contain nuts. It is printed on their weekly newsletter every week to offer a friendly reminder to all families. Every child is to be accompanied by a parent or guardian into the classroom, prior to entering the classroom all children are to wash their hands and have their lunchbox sighted by the staff to ensure that this allergen is not in any of the products. I was so happy to hear everything she had to tell me. As every minute past by I was getting more and more excited about him starting kinder rather than feeling anxiety. The coordinator was so lovely; she even explained what the protocol is should he have a reaction. She knew exactly what to do. And the good thing was all the other staff are very understanding.

The day after my visit I found out that a friend has a child that attends this kinder and who is also anaphylactic to nuts and eggs. He gladly recommended sending our children to this kinder. Two days later a very good friend of mine told me that her daughter attends as well. Her daughter does not suffer from any food allergies. It was good to hear my friend’s point of view with her child attending and the kinder’s policies to accommodate with food allergies. She told me the kinder is constantly making everyone allergy aware, they also have story time based on characters that have allergies to help educate all the children in the class.

I hope that everyone who is faced with this situation has the same positive outcome. Ensure you are completely happy with your discussion. I will keep you posted once he commences. I look forward to posting his first day at kinder photo.