Halloween Hysteria...aka Teal Trepidation!

There is a slight irony with the fact that I posted about our gourd allergy just as the nation started to get inundated with teal pumpkins. Friends and family posted on my social media about FARE's Teal Pumpkin Project. I thought that it was a great way to spread awareness and I, like so many food allergy parents, was amazed at the speed with which word spread. 

And just like so many things aimed at spreading awareness through well thought out and creative means, (How many of us dumped water on our heads for ALS?) the naysayers and Debbie Downers started to surface. I had been doing a good job of ignoring the nasty comments on social media, mainly because I just don't have time to read 17 opinions to something that seems so blatantly harmless (not to mention optional).

But then I made the mistake of reading this article on Munchies. The site name alone should have tipped me off.  These people are serious about their food, and like a toddler with his Cheerios (or Chex in our case), be prepared for a battle if you try to take it away. The basic premise of the article, by Alison Stevenson, is that the Teal Pumpkin Project is taking something away from Halloween that we as children long adored, and calling out those participating as helicopter parents seeking attention for "mostly made-up" allergies.

Half right. I'm a helicopter mom and I will shout it on the mountain tops that my child has life threatening allergies.  I mean, you are reading a blog post about it now. But what Ms. Stevenson doesn't understand is why we are like this. There are so many more of her in this world than there are of us, and it is not only our job to keep kids safe, but also to educate as many people as we can along the way. 

As much as she is right in her point that the world has changed from when we were let loose as kids to prowl neighborhood streets with pillowcases filled to top with sugary, chocolatey goodness, that is not the only thing about our world to have changed.  Food allergies among children have increased by 50% between 1997 and 2011, so it is very possible that many of us didn't come in contact with any children with food allergies during our own childhood. 

If the world were the same as when I was a child I could send my kids outdoors with no more than instructions to come home when the street lamps came on. I would assume that every person who comes up to speak to my children is well meaning and not a psychopath. They wouldn't be sitting in car seats. Life would certainly be easier and devoid of so many parental worries, but would it be safer? Since we can't go back, we learn to parent differently and make decisions that keep the balance of safe and happy.

What FARE is suggesting with the Teal Pumpkin Project just helps to balance the safe and happy for food allergies families.  I don't expect our friends and neighbors to stop handing out candy with peanuts or milk in the ingredient list, but if a Teal Pumpkin helps one kid to get excited about being able to keep what he receives at my door, then great!  And if some others get an education about food allergies on the side, helping make the other 364 days of the year easier on me as an allergy mom and safer for my Monk, then even better. 

If Ms. Stevenson is "allergic to feelings" (SO could have done without her mocking of an anaphylactic reaction) I am allergic to ignorance and lack of empathy.  And although I do turn a shade of green as I think of the her munching away on Reese's or Snickers this Halloween, I can hope that whatever Trick-or-Treat bag she nabs from this year is filled with an unfair proportion of those orange and black wrapped molasses atrocities or maybe a bunch of circus peanuts.

Too harsh? 

Either way, we will be supporting the Teal Pumpkin Project this year with treats like Halloween Slap Bracelets, Splat Eye-balls, and Monk's favorite candy (cause it's all he eats), Dum Dums. My older children are excited about this year and sharing their love and empathy for their brother with friends and neighbors.

Whether your pumpkin is teal, orange or sporting pink ribbons, we wish you all a happy Halloween and fun night of Trick-or-Treating!!!