Two Ways To Develop Your Allergy Letter Template For School
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Food allergies can make school complicated. There's just a lot to keep in mind and go over with your school and teacher every year.
Today, I want to share a surprising new way to deal with the allergy letter template for school. You probably haven’t heard about this anywhere else because I’m a little unconventional, but I think it will really give you insight into navigating school with food allergies.
So if you’re at the start of the school journey, OR you’ve already been at this a few years, listen in, because I hope that you learn something NEW and helpful today.
Let’s get to it!
Which allergy letter template is best?
First, I want you to know that we’ve been at this for many years now. My oldest was in preschool and she had milk and egg allergies. Even though she outgrew her allergies before she reached kindergarten, we still had some experience navigating the preschool years.
With my youngest, we’ve navigated food allergies for 2 years of preschool to kindergarten, elementary school, and now to high school. My daughter is going into grade 11 this fall, so we’ve had a good amount of experience.
To start, I need to clarify what I’ll be talking about in this episode, because there are a couple of allergy letter templates that you need for school.
The FIRST One is the allergy letter template that I recommend you use every year to get the teacher’s attention and create a collaborative relationship with them. It’s the letter you send at the beginning of each year so that the teacher understands how important their role is in keeping your child safe and included.
Honestly, many teachers don’t realize how serious food allergies are, and I can’t stress this enough. It's not that they’re trying to hurt your child or that they don’t believe you. It's just that they don’t know what they don’t know about food allergies. Teachers are overworked and they’re also probably dealing with a lot of other issues in the class, and their attention is divided. Teacher’s are busy and they have many demands on their time. We have to remember these things throughout the school process. Because knowing this helps us to help the teachers.
Not only that, but your teacher may believe some myths about food allergies. Unfortunately, they probably don’t realize they’re myths, so you’ll need to educate them so you’re all on the same page.
So at the beginning of the year, you’re going to send an allergy letter to your teacher that will break through all of that. It will help you correct the misconceptions about food allergies that the teacher may be thinking before the school year starts.
This allergy letter is going to help them see how important their role is. And it will get them interested in becoming more educated right away, instead of putting food allergies off until they have more time.
That is the power of the teacher allergy letter template because you can cut through the obstacles, by sending them a letter at the beginning of the year, and then meet with them to discuss food allergies further.
I have an uncommon way to deal with this type of allergy letter for the teacher. And I believe and know based on experience and client comments that what I do is effective. Mostly because I’ve developed and tweaked it and perfected it over the years to become what it is now.
If you want to learn how to get your teacher’s attention, break through the myths, and show your teacher how important their role is in keeping your child safe and included.
I go over all of this in great detail in the School Success Pack. You can get the School Success Pack by itself OR as an add-on to the School Allergy Plan Template.
The cool thing is, when you buy it as an add-on, you will get a huge discount.
If you want to learn more about navigating school with food allergies, check out the School Allergy Plan Template and get the School Success Pack as an add-on.
The second allergy letter template is THE ONE WE’RE TALKING ABOUT TODAY.
This is the letter the teacher or school sends home to the other kids in your class. It’s the one that gives the other parents in the class the instructions for how food allergies will be navigated in the classroom, and what is required from them.
Please keep in mind; that you may or may not get full reign as to what you say in this letter. More than likely, you’ll have to work on this WITH your teachers each year.
Many teachers have an allergy letter template they use, but sometimes these templates don’t have the right information so you’ll want to check it if possible before the teacher sends it out.
One way I like to frame it is to say: I can save you some time by sending you a draft letter, that you can change how you want, and then send out to the parents. Many times the teachers are so excited to get a bit of help (because remember, they have a hard job and are likely overworked!) and this will work well for them. But if it doesn’t THAT’s ok too! You will just need to discuss the options with them before they send the letter.
But that brings us to what to say in the letter.
I’ve got a few considerations for you here. Of course, everything will depend on your situation, and the specific classroom and the teacher too; but I hope to give you a few thoughts to help you figure this out.
1. First, you’ll need to decide what the food allergy boundaries will be in the classroom this year. This is all a part of your discussion with your teacher and should include things like classroom celebrations, sharing food, and classroom protocols. We won’t go through all of these today, but I have a full list of things to talk about in my School Allergy Plan Template. This template is very comprehensive and there’s 10 pages of food allergy accommodations or boundaries to think about.
One boundary I think is important is non-food celebrations. Let's just chat about this for a second. I feel strongly that non-food celebrations are the best way to handle this.
Some schools have already implemented this, while others are slow to catch on. But here’s why I think it’s important.
It can be tempting to just say, food is what we’ve always done, so as long as ensure everything is safe for my child’s food allergies, it should be ok. BUT to get true inclusion, we need to think about more than just your allergy kid here.
I think it’s important to work towards safety and inclusion FOR ALL KIDS in the classroom. For example, are there other food allergies or dietary needs? Are there other health issues like Diabetes or Celiac? Even some kids with ADHD and sensory issues may need some sort of dietary requirement.
So if we are looking at the classroom as a whole, I truly believe that NON-FOOD celebrations are the BEST way to accommodate ALL dietary needs and diseases.
But sometimes teachers are hesitant to have a no-food policy for celebrations because that’s what’s always been done, and they’re afraid of a backlash. And trust me, this can be a sensitive topic with some backlash, unfortunately.
BUT HERE’s THE KEY.
It’s all in HOW they frame it.
It's essential to frame it as a win-win-win for everybody. Framing this at the beginning of the year will help make non-food celebrations something people ask for, instead of pushing back. I’ll go into more detail about framing this as a win-win-win for everybody in a minute,
But I honestly believe that if they state the facts and reasons why with confidence, and they clearly mention the expectations in this allergy letter, they won’t have to worry too much about push-back.
But a good alternative should be decided on first and one idea is that birthdays at school will be celebrated with experiences instead of food. For example, the birthday child will sit in the special birthday chair on the carpet, OR, they can have their favorite book read on their birthday.
Once you’ve figured out what the classroom boundaries will be, SECOND, you and the teacher will need to decide whether the letter should single out food allergies or not.
What do I mean?
Well, there are a couple of ways to write the letter. As I go through this, I don’t necessarily feel like one is better than the other. Instead, I hope to give you a few thoughts so that you and the teacher can decide what’s best for your child and the class.
The first way to write the letter is the more common one. This is where you mention that there’s a kid with food allergies in the class, and because of this, we need to do the following…and then you list the food allergy boundaries that you’ve agreed upon.
For example:
“There is a child in your class with a severe food allergy to ____________________. To keep this child safe, we ask that you do not send in birthday treats with your child, and instead, we will be celebrating birthday kids in other ways.”
The second way to write the letter is NOT to mention that there are food allergies in the class.
Ok, you may be saying, what’s the point of that, if you don’t mention food allergies, how can you make sure that you ask them to do all the things needed?
Well, hear me out… I think you’ll be surprised at this.
What i suggest is that you mention food allergies as part of a win-win-win for everyone in the classroom.
So when I say win-win-win, I mean that it’s a win for your food allergy child. It's a win for other children with dietary diseases and/or dietary needs like diabetes, celiac, or other things. And then it’s also a WIN for all the other kids in the class because it’s healthiest for them.
The downfall of doing the letter this way is that you can’t necessarily educate parents about what is needed specifically for food allergies so that they become more understanding of what and why you need those requests.
BUT, the upside is that there isn’t that underlying tension. But let me just stop here for a moment to talk about this tension.
I have to say that the tension is real. No, it didn’t happen EVERY year, but there were some years where you would hear parents whispering about how frustrated they were because they had to accommodate the allergy kid. And it would be awkward when I had to tell them that the allergy kid was my daughter! There’s just this uncomfortable resentment that comes from restrictions. And I'm not saying it’s right. But it isn’t the best feeling for you OR your child when this happens, and I think we can do a little to avoid this at the beginning of the year.
So here’s how you can still show the win-win-win while also educating so that everyone sees how non-food celebrations are good for the whole class.
For example, the letter could say:
“In our classroom, we have a diverse group of students. Some have food allergies, some have a medical dietary need, others have budget restraints and others want their kids to have the healthiest environment possible. Because of these diverse needs, we ask that parents DO NOT bring desserts or cupcakes for birthday celebrations… We hope this will cut down on costs for everyone AND also take some stress off parents as we navigate the school year.
Instead, we will celebrate by allowing the birthday child to bring their favorite book and we will read it as a class. The birthday child will also get to sit on the special birthday chair when they are at the carpet that day. We will have a wonderful day celebrating each child!”
What do you think about that? Do you see how we make it a win-win-win for all, and how framing it correctly will make a huge difference?
As you can see both of these options, talking specifically about food allergies in the letter and then, NOT talking specifically about food allergies in the letter have their pros and cons, and the best option may be different for each family and classroom.
But I hope I helped you think about this in a new way so that things can be easier for you and your teacher.
If you want more help navigating food allergies at school, so your child is safe and included, check out my School Allergy Plan Template and the School Success Pack. You can get the School Success Pack for over 50% off when you buy the School Allergy Template and you add the School Success Pack on at checkout.
You don’t have to navigate school alone!
So I’m wondering, after hearing these considerations, how would you structure your allergy letter template for school?
I’d love to hear your thoughts, just send me a quick DM on Instagram @friendlypantry. Thanks for listening, and bye for now!
Let me know by commenting below or sending me a DM on IG, @friendlypantry.
You don’t have to do it alone!
