Hi, all,
Thanks for your responses! I am so thoroughly confused now, but I may just be over thinking it. For starters, we have never eaten at Chik fil a, nor has my daughter ever had any type of peanut oil (we are dealing with peanut and sesame). I have been told that they will not be eating anything except ice cream, and I *think* she is old enough to know she needs to be careful and not touch anything. Of course, being in the restaurant and being all over the kitchen are two very different things. Recently we declined an invitation to a birthday party at a chocolate factory, even though they said they would have something safe for her to work with in the kitchen there. The reason being, we figured the whole place would be contaminated with peanut, and I think my daughter is questioning why I would even consider this now. Good point TT (her feelings about the trip), and one I only started to really think about tonight when she expressed her thoughts. She knows that I would never deliberately put her in harm's way, but she did express anxiety about it anyway. I myself am wondering why I would even consider it?
Well, like many others here, I *try* to ask for the fewest accommodations as possible, and I definitely like to choose my battles. I guess if I were to push the issue, I would feel somewhat guilty because, truth be told, I simply think it is a terrible "field trip," allergy notwithstanding. First of all, we are at no shortage for field trips. I am not sure when this is planned for, but we have two field trips just this month, to see the Philharmonic and to see the Magic Treehouse stage performance. I do not like field trips because I know that accidents are more likely to happen outside of the normal school routine, and obviously I feel obligated to attend each and every one to ensure her safety. However, these two field trips mentioned above are completely worthwhile, so I just roll with the punches, and since there is no food involved (at least not with our school ... there are other schools present), I feel the risk is pretty minimal.
This Chik fil A trip, though, is another story. It serves no real educational purpose, is a *potential* risk for my daughter and one she is not too excited about, and obviously I would feel obligated to attend as well. I guess I just answered my own question ... ?!