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The last year I taught (last year) I had a student who forgot his lunch one day. A kid near him shared his lunch - vegetable sticks. The kid gobbled up the carrots and celery and cucumber.
Later that day his mom came in with his lunch apologetic and frantic that her baby didn't have his lunch that day. It's okay, I told her, his seatmate shared his lunch.
"Oh?" the mother responded. "What did they share?"
"Some vegetable sticks," I said. The color drained from her face and a look of utter horror washed over her countenance.
"You didn't give him vegetables???" she asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, vegetables. Carrots, cucumbers, and celery, I think," I responded.
"He's allergic to vegetables!"
"Which ones?"
"All of them!"
"All of them?"
"All of them!"
At this point she rushed over and grabbed her 11 year-old son and started cradling him. "You know you're not supposed to eat vegetables!" She cried at him.
He looked at her kind of strangely.
"How come?" he asked.
"Because you're allergic, remember?" she squeaked.
"Oh, yeah." At this point, the kid started coughing and making hacking and choking noises. It had been 2 hours since he ate and had displayed no signs of allergies until his mom told him this.
I approached her and told her I was unaware of his allergies as I was never given anything from the nurse describing his food restrictions. (you'd be amazed. These days, with kids, it's like reading a contract rider for some singing diva regarding foods - no green m&ms, cut the almonds in thirds and remove half the skin, etc.)
She replied, "Well, I haven't taken him to a doctor yet, that's why he doesn't have a note."
I was curious. "How do you know that he's allergic to all vegetables?"
Her reply was alarming and sad and humorous all at once.
"Well, every time we'd have vegetables with meals, he'd cough and spit them out. I'd tell him to finish his dinner and he'd say, 'But mom, I'm allergic to this,' so we wouldn't make him eat it. He was allergic to almost every vegetable we gave him, so we thought we'd be safe until we got him to a doctor. We haven't been able to yet."
This is modern parenting. This is life in a bubble. This is our future. I weep for the future.
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"I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am" - Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses
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