My Name is Tracy and I Am a Divorced Food Allergy Parent

Raising children can be challenging but imagine throwing food allergies into the mix. Research shows that parents of food allergic children have a higher stress rate, which includes increased marital stresses. Obviously, this also means increased chances of divorce for those parents. Divorce is never something that enters your mind when you get married and neither does the thought of your food allergic child deciding to remain with the parent that was less proactive in their allergy protection. I am in no way saying that there aren't families that don't have both parents remaining active in their child's allergies but it is the case for some. This was the case for my family.

I was married for 22 years. I was the primary caretaker of both of our children. Every doctor's visit, every school activity, every party and everything where food was or may be involved, I was there. I did this willingly and with love and I would do it again in a heartbeat. As any parent does, I made sure my child was as safe as possible. In our family's case, my son's food allergies did not leave room for me to work a typical full time job as my husband did. I feel this caused one of the areas of disagreement within our marriage but in my opinion, it was what was needed for our son's safety. I worked part time jobs when I could. And just because it was not as much as my husband did, this does not mean that I did not work at all (let me remind everyone that being a mom is equivalent of 2.5 full-time jobs as per the New York Post). This means I bared more of the responsibility and had less help from my spouse. 

Are you a food allergy parent feeling like this hits pretty close to home? Has your marriage been feeling as if it's not a partnership but rather a silent agreement that is leaving you feel alone and stressed? Rochie aka The Frugalista Mom recently interviewed me about what happened in my marriage to help others understand that they are not alone. After keeping my silence for many years, I felt is was necessary to share in hopes that others going through a similar situation might find some answers for their own difficult questions. In this video, Rochie and I touch on many points of interest and I welcome comments for those who feel the same, are unsure or simply need some guidance. (Disclaimer, neither Rochie nor I are licensed therapists but we are both willing to lend an ear where needed). If you are one of the many who follows me just to update my ex, keep up the great work- this just brings me more traffic and ratings so thanks in advance!

Thank you The Frugalista Mom for not only staying in touch for so many years but also for remaining one of my friends through the many travels of my food allergy journey.