Dinosaur Quiz

Which scenario is more dangerous for our little boy when we go to a party or playground?
       A: Another kid running around with a pair of sharp scissors in his hand
       B: Another kid running around with a cookie in her hand
       C: Another kid running around with an icecream
       D: A real life dinosaur
       E: All of the above

We just had a lovely weekend expedition to the Scienceworks Museum in Melbourne. It's a hands on experience for kids of all ages - a chance to see robotic dinosaurs, pretend to be a builder and use pint-sized wheelbarrows, look at insects large and small - a chance to have a lot of fun basically.

Well, we did have a lot of fun but I couldn't help getting annoyed when the playground was filled with all sized children running around with food. The bonus of this museum is that they do not allow food to be consumed inside the premises, so all the exhibits/toys should be food-free. BUT, this is somehow excuse to some parents to allow their kids to run around the outside playground while munching, dropping, and smearing food all over the play equipment. Nice.

I think this is so irritating to me on two fronts. First is the food allergy front of course which by now all you readers will be accustomed with! The second is that these situations are making me realise that my role as mum will be to advocate for changes at school and in other public spaces for the safety of my child. My nature is very re-conciliatory... in other words, I'd do nearly anything to avoid conflict... yes let's try and figure out another solution... But, I can see some future battles looming and I'll simply have to step out of my normal operandis and embrace a much tougher approach... perhaps I need to take some tips from the dinosaurs?

Oh, the answer is E: All of the above.

All things work together???

"All things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His will." Romans 8:28

Can I believe this? My last post was full of questions, lots of uncertainties, lots of fears. The one thing I have concluded is that we will not be enrolling our son into the school where I work. My husband thinks I'm getting a little over distraught over these things - perhaps I am. A week after writing the post, I'm thinking that perhaps somehow, me hearing all these horror stories, combined with buying that book which has brought up more things to worry about (thanks!)... maybe the timing of it all works out well?

I've been thinking about enrolling our son into my school which is an independant, relatively low-fee paying school. Staff get a discount, so it makes sense. There's the whole question of public vs private, but when you add up all those years of schooling, it certainly adds up! I've been a long time advocate of not wanting to simply work to pay for kids' school fees since I'm not convinced it's worth it ;-) But that's just me.

Anyway, the culmination of all the doom and gloom is that it's basically shut the door on the option of schooling where I work. And, when it comes to making a choice, a closed door is as useful as an open door.

I can remember times in my past where things I had cherished seemed to all fall away all at once. It was devastating at the time, but in hindsight I could see that new doors opened later down the track, that I would not have chosen had my heart still been tied to old ways or old things (or old people!). So I do believe the Bible when it says ALL THINGS work together... it's hard to see sometimes, hard to understand, and harder to appreciate. But I think there is truth in it.

Haha, stay tuned for how this situation pans out in the not too distant future!

I'd actually be very interested to hear your thoughts - on schooling, on closed doors and all things :-)

Future fears

Every time I reach a stage of acceptance and understanding something else comes up and I feel like I'm back to square one. Why is this? I guess if I was to be philosophical, perhaps I can be glad that these things come just a little at a time and not all at once. So rather than getting completely overwhelmed I just get knocked off my feet... and get a sore backside!

A lot of our friends have kids turning 3 next year, so they've started enrolling into Kinder programs, and thoughts turn towards primary school. I bought a book too with a chapter about entering school, so my thoughts have also turned that way. I'll put a proper review up soon :-)

I work in a school so I get to see some of the inner workings that perhaps don't get seen by parents. This is scary... I heard of a young child who had peanut butter flicked knowingly by an older student. The poor child ran to the first aid office and fortunately a dose of antihistimine was all that was needed. So is this bullying or is this attempted murder??! It makes my blood boil!

I found out that the school I work at is following typical guidelines for storing epipens too... unlocked cupboard... check, stored in an insulated container... check, stored in a central location... hang on a minute!!! Yes, the medical centre is in the center of the school but in a school with over 1400 students is the middle really the best?? The book I read suggests carrying it with you, but apparently this is not allowed by my school. The nurse suggested that it takes 30mins typically before you get a reaction, so that should be enough time... I kind of accepted this initially, but when I got home I started thinking. What if you've touched something and you don't realise you've been contaminated? So 30mins later, your body reacts... and reacts badly. At this point, you do not have 30mins. We're all told to use the epipen THEN call the ambulance. So how does storing the epipen 10mins away make sense?!?!

So what's the solution???!?! Thoughts of home-schooling cross my mind... One thing I am certain about - a school with over 1400 students is 1400 more possible contamination sources. The smaller the better I think... Outward bound camp in year 9? Forget it... not on your life! Those of you who live in Australia might remember one poor boy with peanut allergies. He filled in all the right forms, but somehow he ended up with a dinner pack containing peanuts. I think they went through at least 4 epipens, but sadly he died. Whether the remoteness of their location or simply the amount of peanuts he ingested was the critical factor... I can't begin to imagine the devastation for that family. Other school camps? I'm really not sure...

So you can tell by the number of elipses that I've used... yeah, that's what you call those 3 dots... I've been doing a lot of thinking. Where has it got me? I really don't know.

Now that I've been knocked back off my feet again... got to figure out how to get back up again... for our son's sake.