Your Celiac Child at School: Seven Strategies to Maintain a Gluten Free Diet Monaday – Friday
Strategy 3: Educate the other kids Obviously this is very age dependent, but we felt it was really important for our son’s friends to understand why he can’t eat the same food as them, why he has a treat box, and different lunches, and why he sometimes has time off school for hospital visits etc. We also wanted them to understand that there are lots of things he can eat just the same too, so he still gets invited out to tea and to parties. The teacher may have ideas of how to do this. We made up a short talk one ‘Show and Tell’ day, about what celiac disease is, what he can and can’t eat in a gluten free diet and how he feels about all this. He also took in some gluten free cupcakes for the class to try and it was a great success: they loved the cakes and are all very supportive now they understand more of what it is about.
Strategy 4: If your child is having school dinners, speak to the catering staff Again, don’t assume they will understand what a gluten free diet really means (I tend to ask people what they understand by this before I believe them). They especially need to be aware of the danger of contamination from utensils used with gluten containing food. Check their menus carefully and discuss options with them. They do have a duty of care toward your child and it is certainly worth the time to befriend them and work with them on this.
Strategy 5: If your child is taking home-made lunches to school, make them delicious. It takes a bit of effort, and I long for the days when a quick cheese spread sandwich did the job, but it is worth it. I always worried that my son would look at the other kids’ pack-ups and envy them their bread sandwiches and the shop bought cakes and biscuits he couldn’t have any more. So my mission is to make his pack-ups more exciting than theirs (see my blog for ideas on this!). I think this has worked. He just gets annoyed than everyone wants to share with him and he can’t share back!! Again, it’s a classic make your child feel special, not different.
Strategy 6: Keep ahead on parties, trips and celebrations . It’s kind of obvious but worth keeping in mind – especially if your school is a bit last minute on notices (as ours sometimes is). I would rather know a week in advance rather than a day – especially if it involves extra baking (and it usually does!) You will probably have to provide gluten free party food at christmas, and a slice of (iced) cake if someone is having a birthday and bringing a cake in. That treat box is okay for emergencies but if you can be ready, so much the better. Hopefully that on-side teacher will help with this.
Strategy 7: Teach your child to read labels They need to know what foods contain gluten, an be able to recognise the gluten free symbol on food (great if your child is a non-reader). Practice lots at home until your child is confident and then let him go. He/she is going to have to learn to take responsibility for their own eating (obviously in an age appropriate way) and the sooner the better. My son’s friends are used to offering him a sweet then handing over the packet so he can read the label. It’s great to know he can do that when he goes to their houses for tea too.
School can be a scary prospect if you have a celiac child. Maintaining a gluten free diet around a load of peers you want to be like, and adults you can’t argue with can be tough. But it can be done and is done, by thousands of celiac children the world over. As parents al we can do is our best to prepare both our child and their school as much as possible. Then wave them off in the morning and try not to spend the day worrying about them!!
