Two-Year-Old Suspended From Daycare For Cheese Sandwich, Internet Thinks It’s Ridiculous
There are people who have kids with severe food allergies, people who are sympathetic to kids with severe food allergies, and people who think parents of kids with severe food allergies are clearly over-reacting. Some parents had their two-year-old suspended from daycare this week because she unknowingly brought a cheese sandwich into a daycare with a strict “no food” policy. I’m totally behind that suspension.
Two-year-old Faith Murray‘s daycare in Ottawa has a very strict policy about no outside food. While her dad admits to knowing that she had the sandwich in their car, he had no idea she still had it when they stepped inside of her daycare, Centre de l’enfant aux 4 vents. The child’s teacher spotted it and told her father to take his daughter home.
The school’s policy is, “Any child bringing in outside food that does not contain peanuts is automatically suspended for three days. If a child brings in something with peanuts, they are expelled. No exceptions made.” Fair enough. That’s their policy, and it’s in place to keep teachers and students with allergies safe. Clearly they have some staff and children with serious allergies or this wouldn’t even be an issue. And clearly they let parents know about it. If you think it’s a ridiculous policy that you won’t be able to follow – put your child in a different daycare.
The news station that covered the story asked on their blog, “What do you think? Was the punishment fair or too harsh?” Here are some of the responses they got:
Get a new daycare its a freaking cheese sandwich.
Why wouldn’t they just take it from her? Who knew that so many people lack common sense? Complete morons.. I’d yank my kids. No doubt about it.
I say–remove your child from this daycare center and find another center that is more tolerant, less restrictive and uses plain old common sense.
What is wrong with this daycare? If they are that strict about outside food what else are they strict about? I worry about the children there!!!
Absolutely ridiculous. How power hungry are the administrators? What happens when these children enter the REAL world? Cucumbers too? God Lord, get off your high horse and get real.
So my question to these people is, do you think parents who have been through innumerable amounts of testing, have nursed their children through unbearable pain and sickness and have watched their children to be excluded from enjoying foods their friends’ bodies don’t reject are making this all up? Do you believe that serious allergies that make children really sick are “no big deal?”
This daycare has this policy for a reason. I think it’s pathetic that this parent took this story to the media to say “look how my poor two-year-old was punished!” That is so dumb. She wasn’t punished, you were. She’s two. She felt ostracized for being forced to leave for the day? Then you explain to her that certain rules are very important and need to be followed – and that it was your fault that you didn’t let her know that. Honesty, a two-year old probably doesn’t even concept what’s going on. And if you think that a policy like this is too harsh – take your child elsewhere. There are plenty of daycares that are not this strict.
I think parents who have children with real issues are bearing the brunt of various BS diet fads. This isn’t fair. They’re dealing with issues that those of us who have kids who don’t have these problems truly can’t concept. Why not have some compassion – instead of basically accusing them of being full of it?
