Guest post by Suzy Brophy
Recently, I was combing thru an old box filled with letters my daughter, Samantha, wrote to the Easter Bunny & the Rock Fairy when she was 6 or 7- years old.
I recall waking up in the middle of the night (half asleep) and carefully taking the letter she had written from under her pillow and responding to each of her questions.
Sometimes she would have over a dozen questions, but honestly I loved responding to each one of them.
I would always leave a trail of glitter behind too.
My daughter wouldn’t write just one letter to the Easter Bunny. She would write a letter each night for weeks at a time. She later moved on to the Rock Fairy, but that’s a whole other story.
Needless to say, I loved and enjoyed that phase of her life.
Inspiration
I decided to take the questions she wrote to the Easter Bunny along with my answers and put them into my latest book Macy’s Teal Easter Egg.
The main character, Macy, is an 8 year with severe food allergies who is worried that Easter is fast approaching and fears she won’t be able to go on the Easter egg hunt due to the unsafe candy found inside the colored plastic eggs.
She loves writing to the Easter Bunny because she knows he always writes back to her. Macy draws a special picture for the Easter Bunny and wakes up the next morning to something she never expected!
Macy’s Teal Easter Egg
Macy’s Teal Easter Egg, the second book in the series, is based on a little girl who I had in my 3-year old classroom with severe food allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, sunflower seeds, and dairy.
Even though I have been teaching for over 10 years, I knew very little about food allergies.
Macy’s mom, Mary Beth, educated me on their potentially life threatening nature as well as the issue of exclusion.
Mary Beth explained how as Macy gets older she becomes more aware of her allergens. This past Halloween Macy became sad because almost every house that they went to had some form of chocolate or Pb candy.
I was excited and intrigued when Mary Beth mentioned the Teal Pumpkin Project® which promotes inclusion of children during Halloween and raises food allergy awareness.
Due to this new awareness, I modified my lesson plans and activities so that all my students could participate safely which included painting pumpkins teal. I looked for a book to explain the significance of the activity but couldn’t find one, so I wrote it.
Journey
This began my journey of writing about Macy navigating Halloween and now Easter with food allergies.
I have been inspired to write these seasonal books because I realize that each holiday can be a real struggle for both children with food allergies and their families.
Holidays can be hard enough with tasks such as making sure your house is in tip top shape, coordinating travel plans and caring for pets, not to mention handling family drama.
Nothing, however, compares to the importance of making sure your child is safe and happy during the holidays which can be exceptionally difficult.
It dawned on me that the holiday traditions many people take for granted may not be safe for children with food allergies but they shouldn’t have to miss out on all the fun!
I truly believe that all children have a right to celebrate and enjoy holidays and that it’s important for both parents and teachers to find ways to make that happen.
I truly believe that all children have a right to celebrate and enjoy holidays and that it’s important for both parents and teachers to find ways to make that happen.Click To TweetI hope that Macy’s Teal Easter Egg will inspire every parent to create safe and creative ways to celebrate holidays with their children!
To purchase Macy’s Teal Easter Egg:
Suzy Brophy has been a preschool teacher for the last 10 years and absolutely loves her profession. She and her husband just celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in December and have 16-year-old twins, Samantha & Chase.
Suzy published Macy’s Teal Pumpkin and intends to write a series of books based on little Macy including a Christmas story.
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