Stickers

Stickers used by children today are practically always self- adhesive— the peel and stick kind. I can’t see any reason why a child who has celiac disease could not use these stickers, even if they had wheat in the glue— which is highly unlikely. The glue isn’t messy and does not get on fingers that a three- year- old might lick. Years ago, when I was a child, we used to get books that came with stickers you licked and placed in pre- determined spots on the pages. But those have not been around for a long time. I don’t recall seeing them even when my children, now in their teens and twenties, were growing up. We always had a lot of stickers in the house for art projects and all of them were peel and stick. RoseArt, one the biggest producers of craft items for children, does not make any lick ’em stickers, according to Wendy Hartling, a company spokesperson. And there is no wheat in any of the company’s adhesive stickers, she said. There are some sticker books on the market but these come with repositionable, peel and stick stickers. If by some chance the child’s pre- school has found lickable stickers, it would be simple enough to send in press and seal stickers for the child to use or to have your child moisten them with a sponge. But it is very unlikely the glue contains any wheat. Research originally done by Gluten-Free Living has shown wheat is not used to make the glue in envelopes and postage stamps. And there is little chance it would be used for children's stickers. In any school setting, the most important thing is to make arrangements that allow a child who follows the gluten- free diet to participate in all available activities. And it’s best when this is done matter- offactly, with a minimum of fuss.