Being Free of Being Gluten Free

I have been busy sewing labels on to clothing for my almost 9 year old who is going away to camp and haven’t had the time to post recipes with all that is going on for the end of the school year. Today was a real highlight for me, though, and I wanted to share my day with everyone. My 9 year old was spontaneously invited to a birthday party of a friend’s child. It was a generous, last minute invitation to a super fun celebration and I asked my daughter if she could just go and eat whatever she could and she could have a treat after the party if she wanted to. We had cupcakes in the freezer and frosting in the fridge, but it felt like the right thing to not make the food thing complicated. How nice that they happened to be serving barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers so she could eat a hamburger! Anyway, after the party she asked if we could stop at the grocery store so she could get some ice cream since she couldn’t have the cake.

I don’t really mind bringing substitutes everywhere for my kids, but it is a lot of work. And, I have often wondered how sustainable it is to bring food to every celebration. I love to bake and cook, but my kids also need to learn to eat what they can in situations. This will allow them to be included in more activities and allow them to go into the world without me. I have tried to tell them both that the fun part about celebrations is being with our friends. It’s not really about the food–it’s about being together. But, what a real gift to see that my daughter was able to enjoy a fun party and be flexible about the food.

My almost nine year old is going off to camp this summer for the first time. She didn’t want to go to a gluten free camp for kids with celiac. She no longer wants to take her own pretzels to pottery so she has a snack. By making the choice to eat what she can eat in certain situations, (which might mean not eating sometimes) she can be free of being gluten free for a while and just be a regular kid.