It’s the strangest thing to watch your peanut-allergic child eat, well, peanuts. We’ve known he was allergic to the stuff since he was a tot. A sliver of peanut butter on toast brought him out in hives. Sharing a toy with a peanut-guzzling buddy gave him a rash on his hand. Hugging a pal who’d … Continue reading We’re doing peanut immunotherapy… and it’s working

The number of children with serious food allergies is rising. So, what can classroom teachers do to protect their students? As first published in the Times Educational Supplement in January 2021. Severe food allergies are increasingly common: these days, between five and eight per cent of children have a proven food allergy.  That’s an average … Continue reading Eight ways to make sure pupils with allergies stay safe

We turned to nature for the physical health benefits – but never expected the mental health ones. My youngest child was six months old when, after a terrifying dash to A&E, he was diagnosed with multiple severe food allergies. It was an event which had a big impact on our everyday lives – affecting where … Continue reading The benefits of being a wild child

We got a letter today from my son’s allergy hospital to say that he had been discharged from their care, because of the unprecedented pressure they’re facing from the global pandemic. It’s undoubtedly the right decision.  The letter carries the same date as the Government’s announcement that the daily death toll had reached 980 people.  … Continue reading The coronavirus crisis has exposed the risks of underfunding our NHS, and children – including allergy children – will pay the price.

We’re facing an epidemic of childhood and teen anxiety… but what if there’s a way to raise your kid so they avoid it? What if the answer is really simple? What if it’s… child’s play? Parents of kids with allergies are no strangers to anxiety – it’s a pretty stressful thing to have to check … Continue reading What if… muddy puddles were the answer to childhood anxiety?

If you have a kid with allergies, Halloween can be a time that’s scary in all the wrong ways. If I had had my way we Just Wouldn’t Do It. But for the kids it’s up there with Christmas and Birthdays, so it’s one of those moments when we decide not to let allergies get … Continue reading Taking the ‘eeeeee’ out of Trick or Treeeeeat