There aren’t a lot of pros to having food allergies. Mostly it’s being left out, not being able to eat the foods others enjoy, never being able to eat out, a lot of worrying and anxiety, constant label reading, and eternal vigilance about food safety. All that makes the pro/con list a bit heavy to the negative side.
Today was Matthew’s first day of middle school. Only the 7th graders were in attendance. They had a shortened schedule where they could visit their classes and learn a bit about how the school runs. As part of that, they were assigned their lockers. Our middle school is pretty darn crowded. As such, all the 7th graders are required to share lockers. Right after their school day, I met Matthew and the school nurse in the office for a short meeting. As part of that, the nurse asked about his locker buddy. Matthew, being the smart and responsible kid that he is, had already talked to his locker partner and explained the food thing. Matthew felt like the other student understood and was going to be cool about the whole thing. I expressed approval with that and then started telling Matthew about the not so polite kid Nathan shared a locker with in his first year of middle school. That kid was prone to eating Nathan’s food, especially the granola bars and things he kept on hand for snacks when he after school rehearsals and such. At that moment, I realized and verbalized the fact that if Matthew’s locker partner kept granola bars or stuff in their locker for snacks, that could create a problem for Matthew. The secretary who was conversing with us looked up and stated that Matthew sounded like a kid who needed his own locker. She then proceeded to find an unassigned locker and give him his own.
At long last, and although it in no way makes up for the seemingly endless number of checks in the con list, there is one item in the pro column: private locker.
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