Children with Diabetes
At Diabetic Drug Store you will find healthy diabetic
food, hard to find sugar free candy, and medical alert jewelry for diabetes
care. An assortment of sugar free cookies, sugar free cakes, sugar free
chocolates - everything for the diabetic diet plan - also information
for children with diabetes.
JUVENILE DIABETES FACTS
16,000,000 Americans have Juvenile Diabetes
Juvenile Diabetes is a leading cause of:Blindness,Liver and Kidney Failure,
Cardiovascular problems
On Average, Children with Diabetes have a life expectancy reduced by 15
years.
Helping Your Child Live With Diabetes
Your child has diabetes . . .
For the individual child and the whole family, diabetes changes life.
As parents of children with diabetes, we know that. But we also know this:
diabetes may change your family's life, but it needn't become your family's
life.
First, we want to assure you, emphatically, that your child can lead
a full and normal emotional life with diabetes. This brochure introduces
some of the psychological, emotional, and social challenges you may encounter
in raising your child or teenager with Type 1 (insulin-dependent or juvenile)
diabetes.
Young Children and Diabetes
Young children may have difficulty understanding the sudden changes-glucose
monitoring, insulin injections, food restrictions-that Type 1 diabetes
brings to their lives. Some common reactions among children are:
- A feeling they are being punished for disobedience
- Feelings of shame or guilt
- Fear of death, because diabetes starts with the sound "die."
These reactions may prompt your child to act with hostility toward you,
feeling that somehow you have failed him or her. Because children think
their parents are all-powerful, your child may believe you can make the
diabetes go away.
Self-Care and Your Care
One of your most important jobs as the parent of a child with diabetes
is to supervise, encourage, and foster the independence your child needs
to successfully manage diabetes. Try to avoid being overprotective. Overly
protective parents undermine a child's self-esteem. Instead of developing
a feeling of mastery over his or her environment, the child may develop
a "sickly" self-image, use diabetes to exert control, use low
blood sugar as a means to avoid unpleasant activities, or let high blood
sugar develop to a point of crisis.
Self-care is the key to the development of a child's independence and
self-esteem. This point cannot be overstated: you must get your child
involved in self-care as soon as he or she is able to master self-management
tasks and is emotionally ready. At the same time, supervision by caregivers
must continue. www.jdrf.org |
