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Going off from last week’s post on talking to your toddler about food allergies, I decided to do a food allergy interview with your toddler post this week. The term food allergy interview should be used lightly. As I’ve said, I don’t want Ollie’s life to be all allergies, all the time. This interview was no different. Even in the middle where we focused more on allergies, I worked in things like cooking and favorite treats. We rounded out the food allergy interview with a set of non-allergy questions. I’ve seen child interviews on social media a lot but have never done one with Ollie. Honestly, I highly recommend it! So funny. I used the video on my phone, with it face down on the table, to be able to playback the voice recording after. It was a fun addition to our regular dinner time tradition of each sharing our favorite thing from the day.

the food allergy interview

What’s your name? OliVER (big emphasis on the -VER for some reason)

How old are you? Really old

How old is that? Three

How old are you really? Ollie old (the sass runs strong with this one…)

Do you have any food allergies? Mhmm. I have lots of food allergies.

Do you know what you’re allergic to? What? What am I allergic to?

No, do you know? Ummmm. Don’t know.

Well, do you have any ideas? I’m allergic to cheese, but I’m not allergic to my cheese.

Yeah! Is there anything else? Mmmmmm. I’m allergic to almond milk, almond milk cheese, and milk on cheese sauce I’m allergic to. (he had a slice of Daiya cheese with dinner – can you tell what was on his mind?!)

What are your favorite foods that you eat? Balloons!

We don’t eat balloons! I will eat that star (pointing to a star on the birthday balloon in a vase on our table)

What are your favorite foods for real? MANGOS!

Do you have any other favorites? No.

What? No other favorite food?! Well, mango and raspberry and blackberry and strawberries.

What do you do to stay safe, Ollie? Nothin.

Nothing? What do other people do to help you stay safe when they’re eating? They’re far away.

Oh yep, they might sit a little far away. What do they do after? They wash and dry their hands.

Mhmm. Who can give you food? Dana and mom and dad. And Jared if Dana is gone.

What do you like to help us cook? Muffins! Pink muffins for breakfast (referring to carrot muffins we made over the weekend)

Do you know what we always, always, always bring with us to make sure you’re safe? Do you remember what it’s called? I bring a mango andddd strawberries and raspberries.

Oh, that’s the food you like to bring. Do you remember what medicine we always bring? Do you know the name? What do we say we need to have? Our _. Breathing one!

Oh, your inhaler? Yeah, we sometimes have that. Is there another one? Comes in a little pouch and starts with eh- Epi? Epi what? What I can’t say?

EpiPens. Do we bring them with us a lot? Mhmmmm.

What is Ollie’s favorite special treat to have? Muffins!

Yum, Muffins are your favorite special treat? No, fruit leather. And just chocolate.

What makes you happy? Mmmmmm. Nothing.

Nothing? What are some things you do that are fun? Things that fill your bucket? Balloons and flowers.

What are things that mom and dad say to you a lot? I don’t know.

Do we say I love you? Mhmm.

Anything else? Yeah, you say you have to do your plan (true story, kid)

Do you have a favorite book to read? Yeah. Trains! The train book that goes all by itself.

What do you want to be when you grow up buddy? A firefighter on a BIG BIKE!

Oh, a firefighter on a big bike? I like it! Do you have anything else you want to tell us? Yeah, nothin.

there you have it

Ollie’s favorite interview answer is definitely “nothin.” Everything was about what I expected. We really haven’t worked much on him knowing his whole list of foods. It’s too long. At this point, he just needs to know he has a lot of food allergies and the basic ideas of how he stays safe. The EpiPen answer surprised me a bit but does reaffirm my thought from the previous week. Even though he talks about them during dramatic play, he doesn’t actually understand their use or importance yet. We will slowly work on all of that as he gets older. Firefighters on big bikes surely need to know how to use EpiPens. 

Any interest in conducting your own food allergy interview with your child? I promise it’s a lot of fun. You can find all the questions here if you’re interested. Please make sure to tag ollergy!