With the growing number of food allergies in children, the need need for awareness and educational materials has increased. The princess theme has been used quite frequently to address little girls with food allergies, but materials that appeal to little boys can be hard to find. With the advent of Captain Jack’s Peanut-Free Pirates, parents have an option to present to their food allergic son.
This is a continuation of my interview with Sarah Prye, the founder of Captain Jack’s Peanut Free Pirates. Find the first part of the interview here
- Captain Jack’s Pirates make peanuts walk the plank
With the young age of your son (4), wearing items that “advertise” his allergy probably don’t bother him. However, older children may not want to wear items that announce their allergy in such an upfront way. What is your target age group for your items?
Honestly, we feel that our Captain Jacks Peanut-Free Pirate logo is cool enough for ages two to ninety-two. If you’re a toddler, Captain Jacks Peanut-Free Pirates is cool because you’re part of an exclusive pirate crew that has other Pirates or Pirate Princesses just like you. If you’re a teen, you cut up the t-shirt and refurbish it to make it even cooler while still showing you’re a crew member. If you’re an adult like me, you wear it for food allergy awareness and show pride that you’re part of the Peanut-Free Pirate crew, ready to chat with anyone that asks. The cooler we can make these food allergies, the more crew members well gain and the more aware folks will become.
Our children’s book is an accessory to our Peanut-Free Pirate brand and is more specifically geared toward ages two to ten. I wrote it to be friendly, interactive and easy to understand for children. The characters are pirates, but they are cute and relate-able to children. The design is bold with bright colors and high contrast black and white, so the pages stand out when read to a group or classroom. There is also a tear-out Peanut-Free Pirate Code that can be hung in a classroom or on a refrigerator, stickers to wear on a shirt, lunchbox or snack and tear-out treasure map.
What is your most popular item?
Our most popular item is the first item we offered, the t-shirts. They are selling steadily, which makes us happy to know that someone out there is spreading food allergy awareness. More products are coming very soon!
As a fellow food allergy mother, I have found that getting other parents to understand has been the biggest challenge. What do you consider the biggest challenge facing food allergy parents?
I think the biggest challenge facing food allergy parents is not only getting other parents to know about and understand the severity of these food allergies, but also being confident enough in your own knowledge of them to be able to openly talk about them with people. I remember when we first found out about Jacks food allergies and how severe they were, we were in a panic, then a daze, then overwhelmed with the news. When those first few weeks were over, we cleared our heads and dug in. We Googled and read and learned everything we could about his food allergies. The more we learned, the more confident we felt in teaching him how to manage them. And the more we taught him, the more he became his own little advocate, telling everyone and anyone who would listen. And what other parent can deny their attention when a sweet little four-year old wants to tell you about himself.
Be social, be friendly, get to know the people around your child and offer every ounce of food allergy awareness you can to help them understand how important it really is to understand.
Check out Captain Jack’s Pirates here. They also have a Facebook page, which you can see here.
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