Food Sensitivities - Why So Prevalent?

Doesn’t it seem like food sensitivities in children have skyrocketed with this generation?  It’s not just the imagination of well-informed parents, either.  Kids are rashier, sneezier, coughier, wheezier, more hyper and less focused than ever before.  It’s true.  I have to look no further than my classroom or my home.  It’s not just a few kids, anymore.  It’s becoming the majority of them.  This is quickly growing into the new normal.

I am more and more convinced that this is related to our diet and to imbalanced gut flora in our children.  You pair sensitive kids with our modern, GMO-infested, artificial food production practices and you’re asking for trouble.  Wheat and dairy are the biggest culprits of all sorts of issues, from ADHD-like behavior to chronic colds, asthma-like symptoms, rashes, and more.  Check out this article on wheat (Modern Wheat Really Isn’t Wheat at All) and I bet you’ll think twice about feeding it to your kids. I did, and am making some radical changes to our household diet.

But it’s not just today’s diet.  I recently learned something that hit me like a ton of bricks:  We moms may have caused the allergies and food sensitivities in our children.  “What?!” you might ask, just as I did.  “But I breastfed my child, I buy organic, I avoid processed foods, we all lead a healthy lifestyle. I’m doing all the right things.  How did I cause these allergies?”

Well, we didn’t know we were doing it.  Many of us mamas unwittingly passed on our own unbalanced gut issues to our little ones.  This may not be as true outside the United States, but check this out: If you were born in the late 60s, 70s, or even into the 80s, breastfeeding was not popular at that time, and if it was done at all, it was very briefly.  As a result, many babies of that era missed out on that immune-boosting mother's milk and therefore ended up with lots of childhood colds, allergies, sinus issues, ear infections and the like.  Sound familiar?  Tonsils removed? Tubes in ears?  Antibiotics were the cure-all, and you were given plenty of them growing up, which obliterated much of your good gut bacteria.  Add to that hit the statistic that many modern moms were on birth control pills from a relatively young age and were on it for a long period of time before becoming moms.  Birth control pills also wipe out your helpful gut flora. 

If you happened to have not been eating organic, non-GMO, whole foods all along, along with loads of probiotics (and let’s face it, who was?) then by the time you had children, your immune system and gut bacteria had been seriously compromised, and that, my friends, is what we passed along to our sensitive babies with our conscious choice to breastfeed. 

Bummer, huh?  I mean, really!  Ouch!

So where does that leave us?  For me, it leaves me with some experimenting to do.  I want to know how much the foods Lucas eats are impacting his overall health, his immune responses, and his behavior.  It’s possible that my experiments with food will lead us to some really difficult choices about how we shop, cook, and eat.  They may lead to changing lifelong habits, which is always hard to do. 

But what’s the cost of changing my grocery list and cooking style compared to the benefits of my son’s health, learning and well-being?  These food-related issues are not going away, and they are becoming more and more of a mainstream challenge for everyone – parents, children, teachers, schools, workplaces.  We can pretend it’s not an issue, or we can take the challenge and begin making the changes and see what happens.

Cheers!

Alexis

P.S.

A few more resources and info on the subject:

Can Allergies Cause Behavior Problems?

Kids with Stubborn Asthma May Have Food Allergies

"Good Bacteria" During Pregnancy may Ward off Eczema

The Story of Sparrow - A Fairy Tale

I wrote this story and read it to a crowd of about 100 at our first NUA Sparrow Open House earlier this month. I thought you all might enjoy it, as well. It's one way of explaining the dissolution of Xara and how this new school miraculously came to be.



Not so long ago, a small kingdom with a big heart was falling apart at the seams. As rulers, courtiers, and villagers dispersed to the four corners of the land, a small band of individuals remained hopeful that, somehow, the struggling kingdom would survive.

When word came that the little kingdom had pulled up its drawbridge and bolted its gates, this group knew in their hearts it was not, in fact, the end. But what were they to do? “Our kingdom had its troubles, to be sure,” they cried, “but if given a chance, we will take what we learned and create a kingdom like none other; one that is wholesome and good for our children and our families.”

A brave and good knight from a neighboring kingdom heard word of their plight. Sir Halfaker traveled far and wide to the land of Nua to beseech its Duke to take in the small band as his own. Duke Bernie agreed, and there was great rejoicing…

… but only for a moment, for there was little time to celebrate when so much was to be done. The land of Nua had no castle for this tiny new kingdom, and Duke Bernie had decreed that if, and only if, the band could find enough villagers to join together with them, would he help them find their castle and support their new beginning. The small group had only seven weeks to fulfill the Duke’s wishes.

Amidst the castle hunting and courtier screening and villager recruiting, the small band worked night and day to amend and enhance their kingdom’s mission. “Our old kingdom had heart, but let’s now add head and hands, for only when the three work together in harmony will our kingdom be balanced and whole.”

By the sixth of the seven weeks, atop a small hill with a gently blowing breeze, there was found a tiny castle just perfect for their new kingdom. The band scurried and scrubbed, painted and prepared, and by the end of that one very last, very short week, they were actually ready.

On September 12th, 2011, in the Land of Nua, the kingdom of Sparrow opened its gates and welcomed its people. And the small band of individuals who had hoped it so, who had made it so … smiled.

Checking In

Hello readers! I've missed you! I've been a bit busy these past few months ... starting a NEW SCHOOL!  I'm so eager to fill you in, but I've only gotten as far as updating the About page, so go check that out to find out a teensy little bit. I've been writing a ton, but it's all going into our promo materials and a new website for the school, (and emails and newsletters and curriculum and and and...). I'll share the website here when it's ready.

There is so much to share ... about how this whole crazy thing happened in seven weeks flat; about how miraculous it was that we found the perfect site only one week before we were scheduled to open and how crews of parent volunteers transformed the place in nine days;  about how all these parents hung in there through a summer full of slim chances to take this leap of faith together; about how 100 people packed into our open house on the one stormy October night that it rained buckets in San Diego ... there are so many stories!

I'll do my best to share them here as I carve out the time.  It may take a while.

Oh, and by the way, the name of our school is National University Academy - Sparrow Program, or NUA Sparrow for short.

Love's Place in the Classroom

It’s strange that the topic of love isn’t discussed much when determining what makes a classroom successful. People tend to discuss academic philosophies, classroom management, curriculum, maybe even the physical environment, but they don’t talk about love.

I say love is central, and it trumps all other aspects we could possibly consider.

When I say I love my students, I mean that I am seeing them for who they truly are, appreciating and accepting them right there in that space. My love for them isn’t dependent on their cooperation or compliance. It’s not affected by their academic performance. Some take longer to get to know than others, and so it follows that some take longer to love than others, but love comes … always.

It comes from my curiosity about how they operate in the world, what they think about life. It comes from watching their valiant efforts, day in and day out, to overcome limits and stretch their abilities. It comes from honoring the risks they take to be honest and forthcoming with one another. It comes from noticing them testing the community waters for safety, and then, finding it consistently secure, extending themselves to others in new and wonderful ways.

And as I love them, they have a model for how to love and accept others. One day, when a boy in our class announced in dismay that he’d just accidentally wet his pants, the class simply heaved a collective, sympathetic sigh. “Ohhh.” Not a single person laughed. A soft conversation began about how these things happen sometimes to probably everyone. He left the room to change, and it was never brought up again.

When the most introverted girl in our class got up in front of the group to excitedly share about her discovery working with the electricity set, her classmates honored her with rapt attention and compliments for speaking in front of the group. They recognized this important moment for her. They accepted her for who she was and were able to appreciate the great risk she was taking in that moment.

Without this love, there is no safe place to take these risks. Without taking risks, we stagnate. Even worse, we develop unhealthy coping mechanisms to protect ourselves from the pain we feel at not being able to express ourselves fully; at not being seen fully. These coping mechanisms look suspiciously like the “behavior problems” that teachers and schools spend so much effort to punish, diagnose, medicate, and remediate.

Our schools are filled with children; children separated from their families for a large chunk of the day. How can we not acknowledge the vital importance of love in their school lives? Do we really think that for those six hours of the day, love can be suspended and they won’t be affected by it?

I’m not saying all we need is love… but it truly does need to be the all-encompassing field within which we do this very important, very sacred work of caring for our world’s children.

Student-Initiated Pet Day

What do bearded dragons and guinea pigs have to do with student initative? At Xara Garden School, well ... actually a lot. Here is another documentation piece, this one from early in April, highlighting the amazingness that is my first and second grade group of kiddos.

Last Monday, B was so excited about her new bearded dragon, Freddie! It was practically all she could think about. Ever the event planner, B funneled her excitement into organizing a class-wide pet day.

She and M surveyed the class to see who had which kinds of pets. They were careful to screen out any pets that were known to cause allergic reactions for our many sensitive classmates. The two discussed organizing the pets by category. For instance, mammals in the science area, reptiles on the bookshelves, amphibians in the language area, etc, and they worked out a plan that included everyone’s pets. However, when the big day arrived, the size of the travel habitat ended up having a greater bearing on where the pets were placed.

When it was finally presentation time, B drew names from the name bag, and one at a time, each person carried their pet container to the meeting space and shared some facts about their pet. The class asked questions, and then, at the owner’s discretion, pets were passed around for viewing, petting, or holding. The kids were very respectful of the sensitive ears and potential nervousness of the pets, and were very quiet and gentle while handling them.

Once again, initiative, empowerment, curiosity, and teamwork rule the day in the Rainbow Garden class.

It’s Electric!

Here is another little peek into my first and second grade classroom at Xara Garden school. This documentation piece was written about a month ago.  I'm catching up!

On Tuesday, E, J, and D experimented with a cool, old electrical set donated by one of our parents. The directions weren’t very kid-friendly and my electrical knowledge wasn’t going to be much help, which worked out just fine. I wanted the kids to explore the set and see what they could come up with on their own.




After some experimentation, they shared their process with the class:









E: First, we started out, and D said to do the cover. J’s idea was to do the directions. Then we tried using all the pieces and it didn’t work.

J: I followed the directions. I had the idea for the green ones touching everything so we wouldn’t have to use the little pieces.

E: Then she followed the steps after she found the pieces.

J: We wanted to make it safer, because the batteries got hot.

E: That’s why I didn’t touch it.

(At this point, others joined in to offer their thoughts.)

M: Maybe to have it not burn, you could put something on the top.

E: How the batteries got hot was that the light was on and lights are hot.

J: Maybe it burnt us because it’s a circle.

C: If it keeps going round and round in a circle and it keeps burning you, you shouldn’t do it again.

After just one hour of free exploration, the kids were closing in on some key understandings (and misunderstandings) about electricity and circuits. With more concrete exploration, their understanding of these concepts will continue to evolve, without ever receiving an abstract explanation from grown-ups.

An additional note for those of you not familiar with my class: student E was so excited about her discoveries that this typically reticent and quiet classmate was bursting to share her ideas with the entire class. It was a delight to see!

Cheers!
Alexis