How do you explain food allergies, and how dangerous they can be, to young children? One way for parents to do that is to read a book called “Pixie’s Food for Thought”. The main character is a little girl named Pixie who has food allergies and self-confidence.
Being different from all the other kids can be hard. When it comes to food allergies, kids can “blend” into their peers fairly well – until lunchtime. Situations that involve food, like lunchtime, birthday parties, and school celebrations, quickly reveal that kids with food allergies are different, even though you can’t tell it by looking at them.
Children tend to pick on kids who have a noticeable difference from themselves. It isn’t nice, but it happens. There have been situations where a child has been picked on by his or her classmates specifically because of the child’s food allergies. Often, this happens because the healthier kids don’t understand why their classmate cannot eat the same foods that they do.
As an adult who has food allergies, I know that it can be difficult to “fit in” when you always have to say no to things like birthday cake, or wedding cake, that hold a special significance and are an intrinsic part of a celebration. Imagine being the one kid who can’t eat the treats at a school party, or whose lunch contains food that is unrecognizable to the other kids.
This can lead to a loss of self-esteem for the child who might be frustrated by the restrictions that his or her food allergies demand. How come all the other kids can eat that, and I can’t? What’s wrong with me?
A parent named Lisa Fischer has created a children’s book called “Pixie’s Food for Thought”. It is a book that parents can use to help their children to better understand, and cope with, their food allergies. It is also a book that a teacher can read to your child’s class, to help the other kids understand food allergies a little bit better.
The main character is a little girl named Pixie who has food allergies. She thinks about her food allergies, and how they make her different from the other kids. She also thinks about the choices that she has to make in order to stay healthy.
Pixie knows that she is different from her friends at school, and that she must be more vigilant about what food she eats. However, instead of being sad or depressed about this, Pixie knows that she is still just as equal, and valuable, as the other kids.
The inspiration for the book came from Lisa Fischer’s daughter, Samantha. She was born with several serious food allergies, (even though her parents and her brother do not have any food allergies).
Image by Vu Nguyen on Flickr