Summertime activities for Sara
We were determined not to make a big deal out of our d-journey. It wasn't that we were ashamed, we were just isolated. In middle school, Sara just wanted to fit in. The summer after she was diagnosed she attended a day camp that she really enjoyed... Camp Bluebonnet for one week for Central Texans.... it was held at Peaceable Kingdom in Youngsport, TX. What Sara liked best about it was that she was a "counselor in training." Taking responsibility for smaller children with diabetes was wonderful for her to learn about and do. She connected and felt proud to be able to help smaller children. She worked and was pals with the 3rd graders. She goes back every summer now.
The second full summer (2003) Sara went off to regular band camp. She was mortified...living on a university campus, I was on the campus during the week but she was in the dorm. She enjoyed it, but it was her first time having to manage it all. She told me she had early morning lows and grabbed her juice and crackers and did just fine. She also participated in select basketball and the regional area swim team.
The summers of 2004 and 2005, Sara volunteered to work at the hospital for the first part of the summer. The second part was spent up in Minn at the Concordia language villages. This was good and bad. The first summer was a disaster. The "nurse" wouldn't allow her to carry any juice on her. If she was sick, she had to get to the nurses' station. She couldn't even have her Bg monitor! I had checked it all out before hand and was told she could take care of everything like at home. Then after I found out, I complained, wrote letters and called. This was corrected the second year. She was so glad she went back. Each camp session was a month long! The only contact is through snail mail so if something is going wrong, there was no way to know. The second year I remember training her to say, "let me talk to the person in charge of the health clinics at camp" if the promises the camp made to me were reversed again. The first year I spent tons of money on sending juices and snacks to find out that the camp confescated all of it when she arrived or when it was received through the post. My daughter is shy and polite and training her to be otherwise is necessary sometimes. If she could have said the first year, THIS IS WRONG!!! GET ME YOUR SUPERVISOR!, she would have had a much better first year experience.
Thank God, the second year was reasonable....she loved it and spoke French every day. Now she's the high school French club president (2007-2008)!
LESSON ---- Parents, you must be your child's advocates! You must NOT care if any one is affended by your continuous requests. You must teach your children not to be polite about their life's situation...they must be assertive!