If your sibling wanted to live with you but didn’t want to respect the one rule you had in place to avoid an allergic reaction, what would you do?
Next January, this man and his girlfriend will be moving in with one another, and they have come to the agreement that their kitchen has to be entirely gluten-free, as he’s allergic to it.
If anything he eats gets cross-contaminated, it makes him super sick. His girlfriend isn’t allergic to gluten, and the plan is for her to have a drawer in her desk that will have her snacks that do contain gluten.
His girlfriend is supposed to eat her snacks at her desk, not put them on their dishes, or allow those foods into their kitchen. Additionally, no one will be able to enter their house with food that contains gluten.
They made these rules together, and several weeks ago, his sister asked if she could move in with them as well. He said that worked for him, but he needed to ask his girlfriend if she was open to that.
“I then told her that our kitchen is also going to be gluten-free, and she freaked out,” he explained. “She kept going on about how I currently live in a gluten kitchen (ignoring the fact that I still get sick every day from it), and why can’t I just keep doing what I’m doing now?”
“I told her that she could have as much gluten stuff as she wanted in her room, and we could even set up a little kitchenette for her in there if she really wanted, but the kitchen and mine and my girlfriend’s dishes will remain gluten-free, and if she brought her own dishes, she would be expected to hand-wash them instead of using the dishwasher.”
His sister argued that they would be paying the same amount of money in rent, so she should be permitted to do whatever she wants in the kitchen.
He had to remind her again that yes, that was fine, but only if she was cooking things without gluten. He can see why his sister doesn’t find this fair, but he’s trying to stay safe and healthy.
It’s not like he’s making up his allergy or demanding that his sister never eat gluten again. She simply has to keep anything with gluten out of the kitchen.
He’s ready to put his foot down and tell his sister that if she cannot get on board with what he needs for the sake of his health, she’s no longer allowed to move in with them.
I mean, it’s this easy: he should revoke his permission for his sister to move in with him and his girlfriend, since she can’t respect the one thing he must abide by to avoid an allergic reaction.
His sister is really inconsiderate, and if she doesn’t want to get with the program, oh well, she can find an alternative living arrangement. End of story.
What advice do you have for him?
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By Bre Avery Zacharski
Hi, I'm Bre, Chip Chick's CEO! I have a degree in Textile/Surface Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology, and... More about Bre Avery Zacharski
