Bullying and Teasing in Children With Food Allergies

Meet Max. Max is 9 years old and has an anaphylactic allergy to peanuts and milk. For Max, this means that eating even a small amount of these foods can be life-threatening, requiring him to use his emergency medication and go to the emergency room immediately when this happens. Some of Max’s friends understand this and take care to make sure they keep these foods away from him. Recently, some other kids have started to tease him at lunch, putting their food near his and laughing when he gets upset. Max’s mom learns that this is happening when one of his best friends talks about it after school.

Unfortunately, the story above is all too common. Food allergies vary in their severity and in the way they affect children’s health. For those with anaphylactic food allergies, like in the story of Max, eating even a very small amount of a food can be life-threatening. If you are a parent of a child with anaphylactic food allergies, you likely have navigated a number of challenges in how to keep your child safe from their allergic foods in many settings—schools, friends’ homes, parties, and so on.

In addition to the life-threatening nature of anaphylactic food allergies, these allergies can also impact other parts of children’s lives: One common problem that many children with food allergies have to deal with is teasing or bullying about their food allergy. Children with food allergies are twice as likely to report bullying than their non-allergic peers (Fong et al., 2017), and more than 30 percent of children with food allergies report being teased or bullied about their food allergies (Lieberman et al., 2010). Many children (and adults) don’t understand how serious these allergies are or how scary it can be to be teased with the food. Education about food allergies and helping your child create a plan can help if they are facing teasing or bullying. Read on for more tips.

Tips for Supporting Your Child With Bullying:

• Have open discussions about food allergies in your household. Check in about how your child feels about snacks or lunches at school or other places out of your home.
• Ask your child directly if anyone teases or bullies them about their food allergies.
• Help your child identify other kids who are not teasing or bullying them. Encourage your child to spend more time with these kids.
• For elementary-school-aged children, consider asking the teacher to help with educating the class about what it means to have a food allergy. It may help to provide the school with educational materials.
• Help your child come up with a plan of what to do if teased or bullied. For example:
  • Ignoring the kids
  • Getting away from the kids who are teasing
  • Giving a special sign to the teacher to get help
  • Going to the school counselor
• Encourage your child to tell the teacher or talk to a friend who can be trusted.
• Consider connecting your child with other children with food allergies or support groups for kids with similar food allergies
• If your child is having trouble with others trying to chase them with the allergic food or sneak the food into something your child is eating, reach out to the school to come up with a plan to keep your child safe.

The ideas in this post and resources are not a replacement for mental health care. If you are worried about your own or your child’s behaviors or emotions, reach out to your doctor for help.