An Intro

You might be asking "What is this 'safe circle' you speak of?"

Here's the backstory: I have 2 kids, Damien my eldest is pretty much your normal kid, no major allergies, no major health issues, full of piss and vinegar. Lili though, is a different story. If she was exposed to dairy (yogurt, cheese, milk, cheese powder, etc) she'd break out into minor hives around her face. We just avoided dairy and nursed until she was 1 and her pediatrician agreed to do blood tests to see a: if we were making this up and b: if we weren't, the severity of said symptoms. Results come back a few days later and we get the news that no milk allergy was found but she did have a "slight" peanut allergy.

Sure this isn't the worst news ever, ONLY peanuts? And so small it barely registered on the test? I know how much more there could've been. This is one of those "first world" crises we hear about. "Oh no my dryer is taking too long to dry things!" So we carried on, eliminated dangerous foods from our house (good bye peanut butter my love, I miss you so much!) and went about educating ourselves as much as we can.

Fast forward to a 2 and a half year old little girl pointing to candies as the Halloween rush builds...saying "PUMPKINS! I WANT!"

How do you explain to your child that they can't risk eating candies even when they say "may contain" or "produced in a facility..."?

How do you explain to your child that SHE can't have those candies but TECHNICALLY her brother can?

Thank the higher beings that Damien is caring enough about his sister (or picky enough to not love peanut butter) to help with this. He keeps telling her "No no Lili, these aren't safe". He asks bakeries if the free for kids cookies are peanut free. He cares!

Listening to him talk to her made me think, she's 2...she's smart, I bet I can at least begin to go beyond "no no, not safe" and start with recognizing what IS safe and making it fun.

Enter the "Safe Circle" you recognize it if you have kids in most schools (at least in my city) or have kids with allergies:

Examples: Hershey Canada's (Twizzlers) "Safe Circle"

An example of President's Choice (Superstore) packaging

So now, Lili recognizes these symbols, we've turned it into a game, we read flyers and look for the safe circle. We wander the aisles of the grocery stores hunting for products that we can compare. It's made it an adventure and a great way to involve BOTH my kids in making safe and healthy choices. Yes we know which candies we can buy, but we also know which granola bars, which fruit snacks, which brands in general are worth taking the time to look into!