Most parents who have children with allergies are used to monitoring the foods their child eats and setting boundaries so that their child doesn’t get anything they shouldn’t – but what happens when parents can’t be around all the time? Many parents find that they take such excellent care of their child’s special needs that the child doesn’t end up knowing how to care for themselves in this regard. The good news is that you can teach your child to screen their own foods and how to create healthy understanding and boundaries about what they can and cannot eat.
Food Confusion
One of the things that children are often most confused by when it comes to avoiding allergens is names and looks. Some foods don’t clearly say what they are in their names – for example, some kids may not know that a pistachio is a kind of nut. Other foods may not look the way a child thinks they should. Almond butter may look more like a general spread and not like peanut butter.
Taking time to show your kids the foods they cannot have an explain to them the way these foods may look or be named is just as important as showing them what they can safely eat. Taking your children with you to the grocery store is a great way to familiarize them with the foods that they need to be aware of.
Trigger Words
One of the easiest ways to start training children as young as toddler age to avoid foods is through trigger words. Terms like nuts, bread, wheat, and vegetarian bay help a child know when they need to get more information. If your child has a soy allergy, for example, giving them the words they may hear around soy-containing foods can be really helpful.
Make It Fun!
Try playing games with your kids at the grocery store where they receive points for every food they can identify or bring you that they cannot eat. Try to trick them in fun ways to get them thinking outside of the box. You may spend time in the peanut butter section to see how many types of nut butters your children can identify. Give them extra points when they learn a new product.
You can also make up a list of items they need to watch for while at the store with you, and give them points for everything they find.
As children begin to read, you can create a points game where they get a point for every product they can find with ‘gluten free’ on the package or ‘contains nuts’ in the ingredients section.
These are simple and fun ways to involve your children in the process of knowing what foods are safe for them while making the process fun and stress-free.