Dave bought me a cherry and coconut scone this weekend from a local bakery, a rare treat. Max stared at it, hungrily.
"Uts?" he asked. ["Nuts?"]
"Uts" is one of my favorite words ever. Max was checking to see if he could have a bite; he knows he is allergic to nuts. This is a new thing he's been doing for the past few months with foods he doesn't recognize, and I am so grateful he's gained the understanding and cognition to look out for himself.
As Max gets older, self-advocacy is on my mind. I will never stop helping him however I can, but I also want to empower him to look out for himself. I've written before about ways to teach your kid to be his own champion, including baby steps parents of younger kids can take. But having a kid who is now aware of his nut allergy is huge. And, not for nothing, I can recall a time when Max didn't ask questions; it's great this is now part of his communication repertoire.
Max is well aware of the effect nuts can have on him. He gags and breaks out in big blotches when he's ingested something that contains nuts, and he sure isn't into Benadryl (unlike, say, blue cheese, it is definitely not an acquired taste). I'll bet Max has some memory of that time when he was three and Dave decided to let him try the vegetarian paté at Whole Foods; poor Max puked everywhere and Dave learned that free samples are not always a Good Thing.
Sabrina takes full advantage of Max's newfound nut concern. When she's eating something tasty and Max is eyeballing it, she'll say, "Max! This has nuts in it!" She'd say that if she was eating a banana. Then I'll give her the raised-eyebrows look and she'll back down and admit, "OK, Max, it doesn't have nuts but you can ONLY have a little bite."
Me, I'm somewhat more generous; I handed over most of the scone to Max. At least I'll never have to share my PB&J with him.
Image source: Flickr/Herr_Hartmann
That is good self advocacy Max! Becoming a strong self advocate is really important.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE how he's changing and growing it's wonderful :)
ReplyDeletePB+J? Is Max allergic to both tree nuts and legumes?
ReplyDeleteOne small step in self-awareness, one giant leap in self-advocacy
ReplyDeleteIgnoring the fact that coconut is a tree nut, almost every bakery is absolutely NOT safe for nut allergic kids. Was this a special tree nut free bakery? I ask because you could be putting your child at risk. Or giving the wrong idea to a ton of internet people who think just because a bakery item does not say nuts on it that the item is "safe". It most certainly is NOT safe. And many people do not know that. I apologize for sounding harsh... but my heart stopped when I read you handed him most of your scone!
ReplyDeleteOh, you're so right, I should have noted the bakery is nut-free and Max is not allergic to coconut! Thank you for pointing that out.
DeleteMost excellent!
ReplyDelete