Or the teenage angst…usually followed with rampant mood swings, foot stomping and incessant eye rolls which then turn into the ever so lovely yelling of “I KNOW MOM” or “GOD” or “IT’S MY BUSINESS”. Payback. Every time I see one of my kids doing this…I think of my mother. “You wait until you have kids.” Payback.
I guess this teenage rebellion thing is just a process of life. It is what it is…then if so, why do we expect our teenage Diabetic child to not follow suit? (from now on forward teenage also includes pre-teens) Honestly, just because they have diabetes doesn’t mean they will then in turn not rebel. I see on blogs all the time how parents are surprised. I was one of them a few years back. “Aw come one, this isn’t a game. How could she not test? How could she just take shots blindly? Doesn’t she know what could happen?” The answer is a resounding YES, they know what could happen. But it aint gunna happen to them.
Sometimes I think it would just be easier to revert back to how our parents handled things. Things were the way they were because “they said so”. We spend a lot of time saying don’t do this, because this will happen…and for us…10 times out of 10 it never happens. Which is the goal, right? Except for the fact that your child starts to develop a sense of my mother has absolutely no clue what she is talking about.
I remember a few years back when Kelsey was not testing her blood sugar at all at school and having a conversation with her about the differences between letting highs go untreated and having lows. One is fast and will knock you on your butt and the other is slow, it’s sneaky..and before you know it it’s too late. However, that just doesn’t hit home. It’s unfortunate, but as a teenager if it’s not now at this very second, it doesn’t compute. So, what we ended up doing is just checking her meter. Reasoning didn’t work, facts do. You don’t test, you don’t have privileges. It would be nice to have a child that is able to understand things happen logically, but come on…I am pretty sure I am asking WAY too much of my teenager. So, we just start speaking in a language both my kids understand. FREEDOM. Freedom, freedom, freedom. “Ya want it? Ya earn it!” It’s a little better than “because I said so..” but in the end it gains the same results.
As D-parents there are a few extra added steps in watching over your teenager. All parents of teenagers have to be dillegent. We just have a few more things to worry about. But in the end, we have to understand they are teenagers and they are just going to do stupid stuff. So, I say… expect it. Head it off at the pass, so you are ready when it happens. Please don’t think because your child is ‘lovely and compliant now means they will always be that way. They WILL fight back. So, again, just expect it. Maybe even break out the standard “because I said so” if you have to. In the end, our responsibility is to teach them responsibility and to keep them safe. Sometimes that involves making mistakes. So, if you are prepared..hopefully those will be minimised and then met with fain interest, eye rolling and stomping off to their room.
Taken from The DiabeticDuo