The Silver-Lining of Quarantine: The Food-Allergy Version

Wowzers - has it been a crazy week!

LA is under a shelter-in-place order due to COVID-19. Never in my life did I think I’d be homeschooling my kids, much less quarantined at home with them and my hubby for the foreseeable future. The uncertainty of it all is enough to make a person anxious and bring up other big, uncomfortable feelings. I know it has for me. So at a time like this, let’s try pivoting to find the positive.

As an allergy parent, we can so often feel overwhelmed by everything outside of our control. What is my kid eating at school? Is the restaurant chef really taking the note about our food allergy seriously? Did another kid who just ate nuts high-five my son?? You get the picture.

Now, enters the quarantine or self-imposed isolation. Scary words that actually may surprisingly offer a lot of freedom to a food allergy family. Let me explain. I’ve decided to relish knowing that everything my son has within arm’s reach is safe for him to eat. Plus, I know that the people around him have not recently eaten anything that will cause him to flare up. I have full control of our allergy situation and being sometimes Type A, I’ll take comfort in having full control of everything. Would I trade all of this in to return to normal? Umm - YES, 1000%; and I know that it eventually will.

In the meantime, since our quality of life is greatly impacted by our mindset, I want to help set us up to have the best we can! Let’s come together and figure out how to make this most of our situation. Now that I have more time on my hands, I’ve decided to take the opportunity to get things done and even be proud of myself for accomplishing the little things. My to-do list looks like this:

• Research air filters for my son and my dust allergies (HEPA for the win!)

• Show gratitude - make a thank you note for our delivery men and women. Involve the kids! Tape it to our front door.

• Deep clean the house little by little.

• Clean out the pantry to ensure everything is allergy safe.

• Find and try out new allergy-friendly recipes. For picky eaters:

  • Make it a fun event and have an easy back-up meal ready just in case, like leftovers or an easy sandwich.

  • Try designating a certain day as our your family’s test kitchen day. You can even name it something such as “Try It Out Tuesdays” or “New Food for All Fridays”.

• Look online for safe snack alternatives, in case I can’t buy my go-to brands due to the Coronavirus situation.

• Play the new game I’ve created called “Is this Safe?” To play:

  • Draw or print out pictures of the foods your child is allergic to - it can be the actual allergen (ex., a peanut) and/or a granola bar, which in theory may contain the allergen and be on your avoidance list.

  • Also print out obviously safe foods, like watermelon, for instance.

  • Then glue the pictures on flashcards or cut them out in a rectangular card shape.

  • Mix them up and then show them to your kiddo, just as you would any flashcard set.

  • Have them tell you whether or not they are safe. Keep the mood encouraging and fun while looking for opportunities to talk about allergy safety).

So allergy fam, what do you have in the works during this time? Stay well - I’m here for you!

p.s. - If you’re looking for some fun, free activities to do with your kiddos while staying at home, head on over to my Resources Page for my go-to list!