That on-line harassment has continued for the families of teens who committed suicide too.

Sometimes people are just sick.

I saw that, too, Bunny.

My own college student has opted to use this story as the jumping off place on a research project for one of her classes, and I was TRULY reluctant to have her use it because the parallels are just so striking, and it (for me, anyway) is just so close to home.  On the other hand, I hope that it serves as a reminder to her-- she cannot treat this as an inconvenience to be ignored when the benefit seems great enough.  I hope that the message penetrates.  She's done some things (as a college student) that make me seriously nervous for her.

I guess I'm another of "those" moms.  Those of us in the vanguard (with kids now 15-25) really did have to be pretty aggressive to get even basic accommodations.  If we could, I mean.  Which is how my DD wound up being educated at home.     At least nobody had to be "bothered" with her safety, I guess.    Sheesh.

One of the news stories says that he was bullied for 12 years in school because other parents were mad about restrictions on bringing peanuts to school.  He was also called "Peanut Boy."  If you scroll down to comments, there is chatter from other students saying that his mom was a pain in the a** and threatened to sue other parents, etc.  Yeah, right.  I bet the mom was fed up with the bullying. 

And it amazes me that people would go on to a news story of the boy's death to rant about what a bee-yotch his mom was about his allergies and keeping him safe at school.  What's the matter -- isn't the kid's death (and his parents' pain) enough for you?  Or is this just the last chance you'll have to pile on and gripe about how you didn't get to bring birthday treats to your homeroom at school?  Geez.

Its heart breaking.  I had to re-read to make myself actually comprehend it was two people with almost identical stories. 

This is too much!  Two kids in two days. It is so awful.

ohhh, I just can hardly bring myself to read these articles.  So horrible.   

http://www.oakland.edu/view_news.aspx?sid=34&nid=11893

I have often wondered-- observing here and also in news stories of youngsters who very tragically are lost to their food allergies-- if there isn't a mechanism at work that causes some kids with nut allergies to be amazing people--

they are classic overachiever types, a lot of them-- academically, yes (proving to authorities that they are "worth it" for the trouble that allergy restrictions all too often cause) but also socially.  They often seem beloved-- and also, often there is an undercurrent of some need to be "perfect" in that sense, or at least to NEVER make enemies of anyone ever, for any reason.   Don't make waves, be that friend who would do anything for others, etc. etc.  The bad news is that kids like this all too often also won't tell others to alter their behavior around them.

  I've seen this already with my DD, who is very much like this young man; she HATES to inconvenience others, and there is often a thread of "but they won't like me if I make my allergy a 'thing' here, so I'll suffer/deal with it/opt out/handle it myself."  We could intervene while she was in high school, but we also know that she's weighing the social costs in college quite differently than we would.    

It is only with media exposure to stories like this one, though-- that just being AROUND peanut butter cookies was apparently this promising, lovely young man's cause of death-- that the general public (and hey, maybe even family, someday) will learn that NO, it isn't always enough to just "know what you can't eat."  That attitude is really deadly, and as popular mythology, it creates a barrier to self-advocacy for adolescents.  All the more so when those adolescents, having experienced a lifetime of exclusion or bearing the brunt of adult ire over restrictions, decide that they'll give ANYTHING to not pay that cost anymore.  The heartbreaking reality is that the choice is often between the mutually exclusive sets of social acceptance and normalcy, or very basic safety.

I mention that here because I do think that a lifetime of exclusion and treatment as second-class leads to that kind of adolescent risk-taking.   It can kill.  It's been a common thread in so many of these stories.


I feel so heartbroken for his friends and family. 

So sad.  I'm keeping his family in my prayers.