I am a proud mama this morning. My daughter, at 4 years of age, already "gets it."
Each morning my older children's school holds assembly. The entire student body (PreK - 8th grade) along with parents and teachers join together to start the day with prayer and announcements. It is a wonderful time for community and Monk and I stay for assembly daily.
Now that Monk is a bit older and a bit more mobile, sitting quietly in my arms isn't high on his list of priorities. He wants to interact with the children, and they want to interact with him. While other parents of young children might worry about the spreading of germs and viruses from our sweet little school-aged incubators, I worry about a contact food allergy reaction. (Monk has reacted through touch alone to milk, eggs and peanuts.)
Each morning at assembly, the little girls in Punkin's class swoon over Monk. What little girl doesn't love babies, right? There have been a few times when I have had to asks that they don't touch Monk in case they ate one of his allergens for breakfast. Of course, most look confused. I mean, they are 4 and 5 years old. Why would their milk and cereal or scrambled eggs make any difference when just touching him?
This morning Monk squirmed out of my arms to go visit his sister, already sitting with her class and friends. Of course this caused squeals of delight from the girls who were excited to see him. I see Punkin talking to one friend in particular and then they both walked over to me. "Mommy, she didn't eat peanut butter or eggs for breakfast. Can she touch Monk?"
I cannot express how proud I was that my daughter knew enough to ask her friend what she had eaten for breakfast before allowing her to touch her brother. Add to it that she checked with me. I know that my kids hear me when I talk about Monk's allergies and what we must do to ensure that he stays safe, but for her to take on the role of advocate was heartwarming.
Now if I can only get them to listen so well when I ask them to clean their rooms.
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