Can you believe it’s already February? January just flew by. It’s time to put these food allergy related tasks on your to-do list this month:

Avoid Valentine’s Day Stress

1. Show your #TealLove to someone with food allergies this Valentine’s Day. Create a safe, inclusive and food allergy friendly Valentine’s Day. Raise awareness, encourage non-food gifts, and find safe recipes and candies. 

Plan Ahead

2. Plan for summer camp. Many summer camps open registration in February. If you plan to send your child with food allergies to camp, start the registration process now. This will give you time to work with the camp directors to make sure they can keep your child safe.
   
   
3. Start the food allergy accommodation process for kindergarten or other school transitions. In many school systems, kindergarten registration starts this month. When you register your child, ask for an evaluation meeting with school administration to start the process to set up a school health care plan, such as a 504 plan. It will be easier to set it up now instead of over the summer when office staff might be on a limited schedule.
   
   If your child is moving to a different school, such as middle school or high school, this is a good time to review their accommodations. Often, there are different or new challenges to managing their food allergies. Our School Age Kids forum is a great place to ask other parents about how accommodations changed as their kids got older.

Get Ready for Taxes

4. Gather medical receipts for income taxes. Some of your food allergy related medical expenses may be deductible for the 2017 tax year. If you itemize and qualify to take the medical deduction, make sure you have all of your medical receipts. To find out what medical expenses you can deduct, talk to a tax expert or visit irs.gov.