23/02/2026
I asked early childhood educators: “What’s the hardest part of supporting children with severe allergies in your center?”
Here’s what they told me (in their own words):
💬 “We do mandatory first aid & CPR every 1-3 yrs, which covers basics of anaphylaxis. But not a lot around what to look for reaction-wise.”
💬 “A lot of our training is bumps & bruises & how to follow an allergy action plan. But not what early signs look like or when to observe vs panic.”
💬 “A lot is about removing the allergen rather than learning ways to support educators about how to manage allergies and keep children safe when meals contain their allergen.”
💬 “Educators definitely jump to worst case scenarios which then freaks the parents out & causes grief for the educators who are then terrified of a child having an allergic reaction to something.”
Educators receive regular first aid and CPR training (every 1-3 years).
That training covers:
✅ Basic allergy and anaphylaxis information
✅ How to follow an action plan
✅ Medication administration
✅ Emergency response
It doesn’t cover:
❌ What reactions actually look like in very young children
❌ Early warning signs to watch for
❌ When to observe vs when to act immediately
❌ How to manage situations where allergen is present
❌ all the nuances that come with allergy life from diagnosis through to anaphylaxis
❌ How to talk to parents without causing unnecessary alarm
This creates a cycle:
Educator isn’t confident → jumps to worst case scenario → panics → sends child home unnecessarily → parent becomes more anxious → educator becomes more terrified → repeat.
The real issue:
Training focuses on complete allergen removal and emergency response.
It doesn’t teach the nuanced daily management:
They’re working with the training they’ve received.
I’m working on something to bridge this gap:
Training that goes beyond emergency protocols,
not to replace first aid training, but to complement it.
I want to know about your experience with daycare the good the bad and the ugly. Let me know in the comments 👇🏼
👉🏼 Comment ‘QUICK’ for my free Your Phone-Sized Allergy Reaction Cheat Sheet with real images of real reactions.
