Am I being unreasonable when I expect the nursery staff to keep foods that my 21 mo old is allergic to out of his reach? What about all of the rotating nursery staff who “don’t know what to do about his walker”? Ummm, you let him use it when he needs it! Don’t put it in the bathroom “so the other kids don’t touch it.” Hello? He can’t WALK without it. I’m tired of telling each set in the rotation to let the other kids check it out, use it, etc as long as Micah doesn’t want it, but when he wants it, their turn is over and he gets it back. There used to be a woman who was in there every week with the rotating helpers but she has been sick and not there for a while and since then he’s gotten hold of cheerios twice (he’s allergic to both wheat AND oats!) and someone’s milk another time. Ugh.

I’m the children’s ministry director at our church, and it sounds like you need to talk to your CM director or nursery coordinator. In the case of kids with special needs, we actually work as a team with our parents to make sure our kids’ needs are being met – both physical and spiritual. The food allergies definitely need to be addressed – his health depends on it! Schedule a meeting and make sure you bring something in writing about what needs to be done (or not be done). My son has a life-threatening peanut allergy, and I have signs posted all over our classrooms. I also bring his Epi Pen to church every week, just in case something unexpected happens. And, yes, unfortunately, you’ll have to give everyone instructions EVERY WEEK. It’s frustrating, but it’s definitely worth the time and effort. My ASD son has milk, wheat, and egg allergies, and I’m constantly reminding people not to feed him anything that I don’t send for him to eat. Praying that things work out for you!

What about having a written set of instructions that you can hand out to the Sunday School teacher if it’s a new one. Then they have no excuses for not knowing. Also, it may help them to feel better about what they’re allowed to do and not do.