I am trying to do a video about parents and their role in managing their children with diabetes.
The conflict of the Diabetes Police (I don’t really care for that term much)
Parents:
As parents how do you try to install good diabetic habits with your children without being overbearing?
Does Diabetes management make you stressed? Why? What issues do you face that your children might not see? Do your kids listen to you? Why don’t they listen to you? What are your top frustrations? When do you take a back seat and let you child make choices? If so what choices do you let them make. What would you like your kids to know about your challenges?
Kids and Teens:
What gets on your nerves? Are your parents always asking what your blood sugar is? What annoys you about your parents? What do you think your parents could do differently to make Your Diabetes easier? Have you had fights about your Diabetes, why? Who’s to blame? What freedoms would you like your parents to give you? What don’t your parents understand about your diabetes? Do your parents make it more or less difficult to manage your diabetes? How, what do they do that you would like them to change.
Any input would be great. I wanted to get as much feedback and do a video showing both sides of this issue. What parents want and struggle with and what kids want and struggle with. I want to get this out in the open and see what’s on your mind. I think this video can have the ability to show the points of view from each side. And see we are all playing on the same team!
If you don’t want to post your response for everyone to see you can email me at Bill@1HappyDiabetic.com and I will not use your name in the video.
in my later teen years (17/18) i always found that i would always get angry and defensive whenever my parents would talk to me, or ask me about my BG, i think it was mostly because your BG is something private, i have no problems telling people about it voluntarily, but when my parents asked it always felt like an intrusion into my private life.
the other thing that has always eaten at me is knowing how much it hurt my parents to see me hurt. i’m ok with the fact that i’m D, this is the only life i know, how can i not accept what my life is? Of course there are times that highs and lows get to you, but for the most part i’m ok with it, they happen, you get over it, you move on. What i’ve never been able to escape is the memories of my parents being stressed out and scared by me having bad lows, or their worrying about complications down the track, or my very first and very worst D memory, the looks on their faces when i was diagnosed.
even now, i’m 20 and have moved away from home it hurts when my parents talk to me about new research developments towards a cure that they’ve read about and the like. I don’t even think about a cure, i just concern myself with managing the disease, and it breaks my heart to think that even now that D is still effecting them, they don’t have the disease but it still causes them pain.
i guess what i’m getting at is that i wish my parents would let me worry about D and forget about it themselves, and accept that things are they way they are and that’s ok. that living with a worried parent only adds to your worry. i know that i was always less worried about having a low around my friends than my parents, because my friends would have a ‘she’ll be right mate’ (to use an aussie term) attitude about it where as my parents would always worry if my BG took a while to come back up, or was particularly low.
