Our house rule: “He who opens a new package/bottle/can MUST read the label or they catch the wrath of me!” It’s a pain, it’s time consuming, it’s tedious and it’s not fun, but it must be done. It saves lives. “And if you can’t read, find someone who will read it WITH you, so you can learn how to read it for yourself.” We struggled with this for a long time, and to this day I still randomly call out members of my family to keep them on their toes and keep them reading labels. Nobody likes it, and I don’t like playing cop, but we all appreciate the necessity of it.
At first, everyone tried to pin the responsibility on the grocery shopper. Since that was mostly me, I cried unfair. Shopping is painful enough without the responsibility to read all the food labels before the items land in the cart. In addition to taking half a day at the store, all the perishables would spoil and the frozen foods would all melt. Then it was proposed that the person with the food allergy read all the labels before eating anything. Well, that’s inefficient and it’s inhumane. That means the same person might read the same label a dozen times before a single box of cereal is empty! Think about it.
I’m always open to suggestions, but the best system we could find is to have the person who opens a package, read the label before the package is opened. That way, every label only has to be read once and the responsibility is shared amongst loving family members. It sure beats mom or dad being responsible for reading a label each and every time someone puts something in their mouth. It also creates a sense of responsibility at a team level, trust and independence.
Ann
Tags: food allergies, label
