The boys look adorable! Nothing to add to this conversation, but excellent that you are covering the topic Kim!

And my son with Celiac Disease (who is in 2nd grade) does not get immediate, life-threatening reactions either. He does, however, begin to have seizures in his sleep if he gets glutened. So…that does keep me on my toes and hyper-alert about keeping all of the teachers educated.

I am so glad you were able to feel like you are not so alone in this by coming here and reading so many of the other families that are going through similar things. And keep up the good work! Your children are blessed to have you as their advocate!

Kim

All that to say, I feel like I constantly have a megaphone tied around my neck telling each and every teacher, switch teacher, and administrator about Celiac Disease. It seems that everytime I mention it, all I can hear are cricket sounds as they try to register what gluten free means. I spent the last two days getting canisters, two per child, to fill with gluten free treats for each classroom they are in. Then, I labeled them in a “supercool” way for each one. After that, I wrote a letter to go with the jar.

I spent last week writing up a note to each teacher and switch teacher introducing them to Celiac Disease and my children in general that I will also be sending to the principal so she is aware of the situation and how many GF kids she now has in her school.

My kids don’t have immediate, visible reactions if they come across gluten, but as a mom, I do get concerned that they will feel left out and different when those inevitable social situations come up. Around our house, we refer to GF eating as the Olympian training plan. We say they’re eating like athletes. We even looked up Olympian GF’ers and tried to look for them during the games. I know one of them won a gold medal in swimming.

I feel much less isolated reading all of these other mom comments and am very thankful I came across this post. Thank you!!