Easy as A, B, C…or is it?
As the summer holidays draw to a close for another action packed year, my attention has begun to focus on heading back to school. I’ll be honest, I can’t help but wonder what this school year is going to bring.
As our eldest progresses into year 2, our middle child, William is super excited about moving into reception. “I’m grown up now Mummy – I’ll be 5 soon”. Just something he has repeated on loop for the past 3 months. Don’t get me wrong, I am excited that he is excited and I appreciate that children have to grow up, it would be very odd if they didn’t.
However, I have been putting something to the back of my mind which I now have to face. William has never known life without coeliac disease and he is as sharp as a tack when questioning whether he can eat something, but what impact will this have on his little life both at school and on a personal level as his little friendships flourish. I am used to having a certain level of control and quite frankly, that’s the way I’d like it to stay!
My mind is already racing away about invites to friends houses for tea after school, weekend day trips out or heaven forbid a sleep over all without me to oversee things. All perfectly natural developments and key stages in a child’s life which we have taken for granted a bit so far as neither his brother or sister have coeliac disease.
Will other parents be as tuned into his dietary requirements and concern for cross-contamination? I doubt it or am I doing them a disservice? You know the lingering stare you give restaurant staff when you are trying to reinforce the importance of no cross-contamination. At least in a restaurant you can walk out if you don’t have confidence in their provision.
I am wondering how this will work, do I rock up at Williams destination with meal supplies or do I trust the parents to provide an uncontaminated gluten-free meal or two? Personally, if the reverse happened, I would like to think that I would embrace that child’s dietary requirements. Why should any child feel different? Or am I being harsh? Secondly, will William get alienated as they realise the implications of a mistake on their part and feel that it would be easier not to invite him? Eek, now I do feel worried.
Similarly, at school will he feel different as each child is allowed to bring in a healthy snack of choice. I will certainly be ramping up my creative culinary skills to minimise any potential pitfalls. Do 5 year old’s get involved in snack bartering or will that come later down the line? On the flip side, it is reassuring to see that all state-funded schools in England, including academies and free schools in England must make arrangements for children with medical conditions including coeliac disease. https://www.coeliac.org.uk/gluten-free-diet-and-lifestyle/school-meals/ so if anybody is finding their child’s school are being uncooperative then present them with this document to remind them of their obligations under The Children’s and Families Act 2014.
Don’t get me wrong, William has attended nursery for the past 2 1/2 years without many hiccups, has a better social life than the husband and I, attended more birthday parties and outings than I have fingers and toes but somehow this feels different. I have always supplied his party food or sent him on his way with a bag of gluten-free goodies for a day out and nursery have been brilliant. I would even go as far as to say he was spoiled and certainly never missed out on anything.
But it’s a parents prerogative to worry about their children right? “That never changes” reaffirmed the Grandparents. “What ever their age” Great Grandma piped up.
The frenzy of making sure all his school uniform has been clearly labelled really has paled into insignificance. We’ve got bigger fish to fry…ooh, there’s a thought, maybe I need to tee up another meeting with the school catering staff to refresh their knowledge of cross-contamination!