Food Allergies and Bullying

Often, children can be very cruel. Without realizing the consequences of their actions, children often pick on their classmates, especially those that are a bit different from the norm. And people with food allergies definitely fall into that category. I can imagine that for kids who don't have food allergies, someone who's deathly allergic to something non-malignant such as peanut butter or peanut cookies, are freaks and are thus obvious targets for bullies.

It's sad, really. Sad, that such an intolerance can get to the point that an eighth-grader would face felony charges after putting crumbled peanut butter cookies in the lunch box of another student with a severe allergy to peanuts. Why does this have to happen? Why is it so difficult for others to understand that for some people, living with allergies is no joke? Why is it so difficult for us to tolerate and be considerate of each others' weaknesses?

Photo Credit: scol22. Posted by: ruth    Source