When you or your allergic family member needs to stay away from home – it is always a stressful situation. There are a few mandatory things you need to take care of upon arriving at the place you are staying.

The following list is general but not totally complete, as every situation varies. Be sure to speak with your host in advance of your arrival and give them a few guidelines of your stay, if possible send them your copy of The Peanut Allergy Handbook, to help them prepare for your arrival. If you want to make things really simple for when you get there, pick up your own safe groceries before you arrive.

As you may well know, educating others on the seriousness of the peanut allergy is extremely difficult. You will be inundated with statements like, "It should be safe.", "I don’t think it has any nut traces in it.", "A little bit won’t kill him.", and on and on. You may find these comments offensive, but they are usually made out of ignorance of the allergy, not ignorance toward your child.

It is extremely difficult to walk into Grandma's house, or a friends home and start taking over in their kitchen. Truly, the only way to look at it is, your actions are necessary. Ultimately your or your child's safety is all that matters, and if your host doesn’t like it, you will need to stay elsewhere where you can be safe, stress free.

If the remark is made that you are a little over-the-top with the allergy, explain it yet again, you should be over-the-top. Be proud of yourself for taking the best care you can, if ever a reaction was to happen, it wouldn’t be because of lack of knowledge or effort on your part.

For tips on helping others prepare for you stay, see your copy of The Peanut Allergy Handbook.