Latex Allergy

Last night I was shopping for some fun pens for me. I wanted fine ball point colored pens. Now that seems simple enough but I got very side tracked. While looking, I noticed some pens said "Latex Free" and these other pens that I currently have don't. That got me thinking about pencils and erasers. WOW I can't just buy any old pencil or eraser. About 75% of the erasers and pencils currently in my house in my house are made with rubber and therefore LATEX. Reuben who is LATEX allergic has a horrible hand itching reaction flare lately. I couldn't figure out why. Now I know. He's been writing and erasing more in school. Every time he erases he rubs latex over his poor hands. The wave of guilt that washed over me last night was horrendous. But as my friend reminded me, it was of those things we just take for granted. I worried about underwear, socks, the fact that he can't eat bananas but never thought about something as simple as an eraser. Just for the record Pentel and Ticonderoga both make LATEX free pencils and erasers. Now the kids are hunting down every pencil in the house to be on the safe side.