I am so excited and proud to share this with you. Over the past few months I have been working with our local Councillor, Iain Roberts at Stockport Council, to raise awareness for allergies in our community.
As an allergy parent, you have to be on watch 24/7, especially once you leave the safety of your own home. I manage my family's allergies by trying to control their exposure to their allergens as best I can. I can do this by washing their hands, wiping things down before they touch them, being prepared with our own safe snacks and always carrying our medication. One thing I cannot control is other people, in particular what they eat and where they go with their food. In places like parks and soft play areas this becomes much more of an issue. As we all know, allergies or not, children are not the tidiest of eaters and they can leave quite the mess as they go munching along exploring their fun new surroundings.
My children have anaphylaxis to dairy, amongst other foods, which due to its nutritious benefits and the fact that it tastes so good is a common snack to see in public spaces. Picture the ice cream van that brings a smile to most kids and a dent in the purse for most parents. Ice cream is often the food that I need to be most alert to, especially in parks with cafes and ice cream sellers positioned as close to the play areas as possible. There is not much that can send me into more of a blind panic than seeing multiple children running around the park and playing on the equipment with dripping ice creams, melting chocolate, sloshing hot chocolate and milkshakes and cheesy puff dust. In the past, this sight has been enough for me to pack up, turn around and leave, crying kids soon to be bribed with a treat in tow. I am by no means saying that this is the correct response but I am still dealing with the trauma and PTSD relating to anaphylaxis and severe reactions.
Before I had my children with allergies, I would not consider the scene of children enjoying snacks in the park as a problem and unless you have first hand experience of allergies, there's no reason you would!
Through the wonderful World Wide Web I had seen photographs from the USA of parents who had contacted their local Department for Parks and Recreations and had signs placed to raise awareness and guidance for how to keep children with allergies safe. After a little research to see if anybody in the U.K. had achieved something similar it seemed as though no one had. Such a simple idea but one that could potentially save a life.
I drafted a letter to my local Councillor explaining why I thought allergy awareness park signs were important and how they could help people in our community. It did not take long at all to hear back from Councillor Iain Roberts, explaining that he had never considered this issue before and that he was willing to help!
First hurdle - tick!
We talked about what we wanted the sign to look like and I sent over some suggestions and information that I thought were important to include on the sign. Iain suggested that my children get involved and design some of the sign. What a great idea!
Due to the age of my children we asked the help from someone a little older, the children's good friend, Elsie, who lives locally and who has also lived with allergies her whole life.
Elsie and her mum Lorrayne both agreed that they would love to be involved in the project and had experienced similar problems with food at the park as we had. Elsie worked very hard and did lots of different versions of the poster, leaving space for Teddy to get involved in the colouring in. We sent the options to Iain and along with the discussions we'd had on what we wanted to include, we agreed on the final sign. We were all so excited for the sign to be put up in the park!
It took a good few months before we heard anything more about the park sign, which is understandable of course, and in November I received the email we had been waiting for! The park sign was going to be put up by the end of the year.
Over the next few weeks we visited the park lots and lots to check, and during the week in-between Christmas and New Year to our delight our park sign was finally up! We spent longer than normal in the park that day, looking at the sign with real pride and talking to the kids about making small, positive acts. We took some photo's as I coo'd over it some more! What the other people in the park were thinking at this point I can only imagine, ahh but who cares, that day was our day.
As soon as I got home I shared the photo and story of the sign to Instagram and Facebook and the response has been fantastic!! I know it's such a small and obvious thing and I'm pretty sure that's the reason for the overwhelming response. Why shouldn't every park have a sign like this?! For those who live with life threatening allergies it's a total no-brainer, and for those who don't it's been an real eye opener. I had so many messages from other parents who told me that they experienced the same worries and that they were going to approach their local council for a sign too!
I shared the original letter that I'd sent to Iain and the photo's of the sign, just to make it a little easier for others to make that first contact with their own local representative. As so many other parents would like to do this too I have decided to make the letter a public document for everyone to access, edit and send on.
Above you will see two documents. The first a version of the letter that I sent to my councillor. I have highlighted the parts that need editing, but there may be other bits and bobs that you need to change to meet your specificity too. The second document is a clear image of the park sign. This could be used as an example of what could be used.
If you are choosing to approach your local councillor to propose a park sign for your local park, I wish you all the luck in the world. I would be so grateful if you could tag me in your posts of park signs that you have advocated for and I would love to hear your journeys of how you got them.
I am always available on Instagram @the_freefrom_mummies should you wish to ask me any other questions.
The only other advice I could offer is to be patient and don't give up. I can only assume that there is a very heavy job load at the council and sometimes little, polite reminds are needed to keep the ball rolling!
Lots of love and sending you all the best!
Next up....soft play ;)