Looking through all of the food allergy friendly social media sites, I was reminded of how I handled dyeing Easter eggs as a young mom with a daughter anaphylactic to eggs. I only wish I had the support and community that is out there now during the late 1990s. Easter was always filled with food, fun, family, and, of course, Easter egg dyeing which always occurred a couple of nights before Easter. All of the cousins would get together for a fun night that soon became a night of dread for me. I never wanted my daughter to be afraid or miss out on a life long tradition in my family. My way isn't for everyone and, if I learned one thing from this allergy community, it is that all moms do the best for their children and each of us handle things differently. This is how I managed through Easter egg dyeing with my egg allergic child.
I was in charge of boiling the eggs. A few always cracked and were removed so not to be used. The rest were individually hand washed with soap and water and dried. I always purchased the deluxe dyeing kits that had grabbers, egg holders, wide mouth cups, stickers, markers, and oh yes!, the shrink wraps that of course only an adult could safely to do. I suppose without realizing it, the preparation for Easter egg dyeing was like doing a science experiment-everything was carefully thought out. It was a fun project for my daughter and never about eating the eggs; just coloring them. When it came time for dyeing, I would place the egg onto a bent egg holder and Nicole would dip and hold the egg in the color. Usually as a toddler, she would just flop the egg into a colored cup and keep checking it by lifting it with the egg holder. When she was happy with the color, she would lift it out with the egg holder and place it in the carton. She dyed eggs for her grandmas, grandpas, daddy, and mommy. I sat next to her the whole time to remind her not to put her hands on her face or in her mouth and, luckily, she never did. After dyeing eggs we would scrub up as did her cousins and then they would run off to play. And yes, her hands were usually stained blue and green for Easter Sunday.
Writing this story makes me think "If there was an allergy community that I could have gotten ideas from or just one parent I could have talked to, would I have allowed my daughter to dye eggs this way? I don't know". Times have truly changed. I simply tried my best to keep my daughter safe while participating in our family traditions.
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