Managing A Child's Mind

I have never had a child to care for, so I can't give the perspective of the parent. I can only tell you what I felt when I was growing up. Maybe you will be able to use something from below to help your child through a difficult period in their life.

Being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of four was a shock to my parents. My mom and dad managed and taught me about the disease. They had the task of keeping up with improving technology, keeping an eye on my diet, emergency hospital visits, regular doctor visits and trying to keep me happy all at the same time. At such a young age, I wasn't willing to help them out with this whole process.

Several times a day, mom or dad would check my blood sugar and inject me with insulin. They had a strict eye on me. Big brother was watching every movement, every misstep..."are you okay?", "eat your mozzarella stick", "here are extra juices for your soccer game", "do you need something to eat?".

Diabetes turned into a routine, a routine controlled by my parents. I had no real responsibility, it was all done for me. As life continued I started to grow sick of having my parents bother me with this whole Diabetes thing, all I wanted was to be normal. By the time I reached my mid-teenage years, I didn't want to monitor my health, it had become a hassle. I feel that in some way it was a direct result of my parents smothering me with Diabetes knowledge, but now I know they were doing the best any parents could. I can only blame my young fragile mind.

My temper grew from all the glucose checking, shot taking, hearing about how if I didn't take care of myself, then horrible things would happen to me like amputation of my extremities. My mind developed a barrier that blocked reasoning when it came to managing my Diabetes. As a teenager in high school, I never practiced what was taught to me by my parents and the endocrinologists. For some odd reason, maybe because of the repetition, I never forgot what they taught, I just didn't practice it.

I can't tell if my learning was a success or not. I believe that my parents meant well and did everything in their power to raise me correctly. So far, my Diabetic life has seen its ups and downs, highs and lows. If I could have them redo some of my Diabetic learning, then I would suggest trying these tips:

1. Teach your son or daughter to feel comfortable with their diabetes around peers and strangers. This is most likely the hardest task of all. I do know that comfort comes from trust.

2. Don't allow their life to be centered around Diabetes, they need to be a kid too.

3. When one method of persuasion (with managing Diabetes) doesn't work, stop using it and come up with an alternative solution. For me, when my parents would keep nagging, it would just frustrate me more, and make me block everything out.

4. Scare tactics don't work.

5. Allow distance between you and your Diabetic child in regards to management, otherwise they might become smothered and agitated.

6. Food is always going to be an issue, especially when it comes to candy. Halloween was the worst. Maybe when something like this comes up, offer an exchange for the candy. If your child forfeits their candy, they get to stay up an hour later, or something like that.

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