Earnest Parenting.com logo

Encouraging Heroes. You can be one too.

Heroes, have you heard of Gimbal’s Fine Candies? I will admit, I wasn’t familiar with the company before they contacted me. As it turns out, Gimbal’s products and facilities are free of the 8 most common food allergens (tree nuts, milk, egg, gluten, soy, fish, and shellfish) which eliminates the risk of cross-contamination. Children with food allergies can often safely enjoy these candies.

To empower families living with food allergies, the company has developed 5 easy tips to make it easier for parents to find peace of mind concerning their child’s well being at school.

  1. Talk to your child about his or her food allergy
    The first steps to safety at school start at home. Tell your child never to trade food from lunches or eat anything with unknown ingredients. Encourage him or her to be vigilant about washing hands and find food allergy friendly snacks that can substitute for unsafe foods.
  2. Set a Food Allergy Action Plan with teachers and school administrators
    Provided by FAAN, the Food Allergy Action Plan is available to customize according to your child’s needs. This includes making sure that your child and/or school officials have an EpiPen® on hand and going through scenarios of what to do in the case of anaphylactic shock.
  3. Seek out other parents of children with food allergies
    It can help to surround yourself with a support group of other parents going through the same experience. This will allow you to have a group to lean on as well as keep a watchful eye out when you cannot be there.
  4. Volunteer to be a chaperone on field trips or class parent during parties
    Whenever outside food is involved, it never hurts to volunteer your time and even offer to bring allergen-free snacks for the class or group.
  5. Get Involved
    Currently there are several bills in legislation that could help expand access to life saving epinephrine, specifically H.R. 3627 or the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act. You can reach out to local representatives and encourage them to support this bill that would make epinephrine mandatory in schools.

For the back-to-school season, Gimbal’s is sponsoring a special contest via their Facebook Page. You can enter to win $1,000 for the school of your choice! Enter anytime before the end of the day on October 31.