All kids hate to feel different and just want to fit in. So imagine how your allergic student feels when his teacher wants to give out treats during an activity, celebration or party, but has nothing for the child with allergies. Indie Candy to the rescue! The Alabama-based company, which ships to the U.S. and [...]

In an effort to take the focus off of food and take the fear out of Halloween, my local anaphylaxis support group has organized food-free Halloween parties for the past few years. Yup, you read that right. A Halloween party with no food at all. And what’s more, this is a big hit with the [...]

“Mom, everyone is going. I really want to go,” my daughter pleaded with me one spring afternoon. The event? A one-week Girl Scout-sponsored day camp – or as I referred to it, “Girl Scout Nirvana.” For many kids, mine included, the prospect of summer camp is the very axis on which the Girl Scout year [...]

We asked parents on Allergic Living‘s Facebook page how their child’s allergies have affected their quality of life – for better and for worse. Some of the answers appear in the Summer 2011 issue of Allergic Living magazine. Here are the rest of them. – No food can be called “convenient” anymore. My life is [...]

May is Food Allergy Awareness Month. So what can you do to participate? Here are a few ideas to get you started. Food Allergy Awareness Week runs May 8-14. The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network offers excellent ideas on how to raise awareness of and garner support for food allergies. For example, why not create [...]

Drumroll, please! The winner of the grand prize in The Allergic Living May Awareness Contest is: Wendy Antosiewicz of Hamilton, New Jersey. Wendy tells Allergic Living that she greatly looks forward to receiving the state-of-the-art KitchenAid® Architect Series Stand Mixer in Cocoa Silver. (Retail value approximately $500.) As the mom of a daughter with allergies [...]

Food allergy was a hot topic of research conversation at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology conference in San Francisco in March 2011. While no food allergy “cure” looms around the corner, there was an encouraging sense that treatments and new tests are coming. Researchers are unlocking more secrets of allergies and [...]

A motion to raise Canadians’ awareness of anaphylaxis got a significant boost in Parliament last month when it received support from all parties during a debate in the House of Commons. On March 21, Niagara MP Dean Allison introduced Motion 546 to the House. It argues that the federal government should take greater measures to [...]

Advice from leading experts on how to speak to food allergic children about the risks and precautions –  without instilling fear. See also our full article on “Your Child and Food Allergy Fears“. Toddlers and Preschoolers Start the awareness – You’ll need to inform a young child that an allergen can make him or her [...]

Update (March 29): The parents of the 6-year-old respond to this story. See “Comments” section below. On March 9, parents of children enrolled at Edgewater Public School near Daytona Beach, Florida, called the media and staged a protest, angry that an allergy-management plan implemented by the school board to keep a 6-year-old peanut-allergic girl safe [...]