The government of the state of Illinois really needs to find a better, more constructive use of its time. Seriously. Can’t balance the budget; can’t even make a budget; certainly can’t save the state from bankruptcy. But finding new ways to inundate parents and schools with even more paperwork? That they can do.

I got a call from the nurse at Moose’s school today. She had been going over his health history form, and had noticed that I had mentioned a likely peanut/walnut allergy. Now, we haven’t officially had him allergy tested yet. But, I’ve noticed reactions when he’s eaten those things, and I’ve spoken to his pediatrician about it, and she agreed that he probably does have an allergy. She also said that she didn’t see an urgent need to get him tested if we were planning on keeping him away from nuts, and that we could do the testing at our leisure. Great. So, I was planning on having him tested this fall, just so we could find out how severe the allergy is, and know if there are any extra precautions we should take, but I was in no hurry.

The school, however, is not a fan of this plan. Why not? Because our wonderful state instituted a new law this year that any student with an allergy must have a letter signed by their doctor confirming said allergy. Even if the school has known about a child’s allergy for the last five years, they now need new, lengthy paperwork from parents and doctors, testifying to the aforementioned allergy. The nurse was almost as frustrated as I was, because she’s the one who has to track down and file all of this frivolous paperwork.

This is just another example of the government stepping in and taken away my parental rights. It’s not good enough that I, as a responsible parent, have noticed his symptoms, realized he has an allergy, and taken the proper steps both to protect him, (by not serving him the allergen), and to notify the school. Now I have to go get a letter from someone clearly more intelligent than I am, stating the exact same thing. Sure, I was going to have tested, but now I’m being told to do it. Maddening!

I thought it was bad enough that in addition to the necessary doctor visit prior to Kindergarten, I am also now required to take my child to the dentist. Because I can’t figure out to do that on my own, right? Surely I never would have taken him to the dentist if I wasn’t told to. No, instead I probably would have just neglected his dental health, because parents are clearly too stupid to know to do this without the state government telling them to.

Oh, and the mandatory visit to the eye doctor prior to Kindergarten. Completely necessary for a child exhibiting no vision problems, right? I mean, I couldn’t figure out to take Turkey and Ladybug, who were homeschooled and not even of school age, to the eye doctor without someone telling me. I’m not observant enough to realize when my children might be having vision problems. No, I need the government to order me to do it, and require proof that it has been done before my child can go to school.

And now, to top it all off, I also need a signed letter informing the school of my child’s allergy, even though I, as the parent, have already informed them. If I don’t do this, however, they may not take proper precautions to make sure he is not given nuts while at school, (which doesn’t involve much for them as I pack his lunch every day), and they won’t help him in any way other than calling 911 if he does have a reaction. Yep, I definitely needed more intervention from the government in this wonderful public school process.

And people wonder why homeschooling is becoming so so popular!