I've taken the anaphylaxis course as well but I didn't find it scary. Maybe it is because I live with food allergies and my daughters both have hyper sensitivities to a food, and my oldest daughter also has a food allergy. The difference between a food allergy (as explained to me by my doc) is that a food allergy has anaphylaxis while a hyper sensitivity there is limited to no risk of anaphylaxis. Yet, when I speak with my family doc he says as long as there is a reaction it is an allergy, so at times I find the definitions of allergies to be conflicting. My oldest also has so many environmental allergies she should never go outside.

I could certainly be more relaxed about allergies because I have always caught my signs on time, or because my oldest was diagnosed with her allergy at 6 months old and she is now an adult, that I taught her to overcome her allergies and live life, her allergies never controlled her she controlled them. By the time she was 4, she was able to fully manage her allergies, her asthma, and her meds, she knew the signs she knew what foods to avoid etc. Though I admit the one thing I did forget to tell her is that she shouldn't eat certain foods at friends; she was staying with a friend of mine while I was away, the friend knew my daughter's allergies, but my daughter said we eat that all the time at home and ate it. Well, at home we always make foods that are safe and we use substitutes. All turned out ok, but my daughter quickly learned that lesson the hard way, she was 15 at the time.

I think I am struggling with 2 things. I know how hard it is to eliminate foods from a menu. And maybe my problem right now is I feel the daycare family being new to the allergy is a nervous nelly. I also think that once I've had a few days to get over being upset with the family, that I might be ok with it. But, for me, I've never wanted to be peanut free, always have enjoyed when my daycare children are over 2 and we can have peanuts. I find the precautions a pain in the butt when I have children under 2 in care. The hardest part is still, I'm not a peanut free home or daycare, the family knew this, stayed with me, and then when I'm feeling vulnerable because I have too many daycare spaces becoming available (in less than a few months I could have all but 1 of my daycare kids leaving; mat leave, moving, going to school, etc) the parent then wants me to go peanut free.

I will never be a peanut free home, I won't take peanuts away from my family. I might be able to get used to being a peanut free daycare, I don't know, it's not something I ever considered doing. I can't use many of the substitutions for peanuts because of my allergies The substitutions would have to be completely nut free.