Raising Teens with Diabetes by Moira McCarthy

Author:Moira McCarthy [McCarthy, Moira]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781938170218
Publisher: Spry Publishing LLC

Overnights and School Trips: How to Say Yes

What is it about kids and sleepovers? Even without diabetes along, they are rife with issues. Kids come home tired and cranky. They eat less than optimally. Often, there’s bickering in the middle of it all. Why do kids love them so much? And yet they do. A sleepover is a bonding experience and part of growing up. Yet many parents of teens with diabetes fear letting them go off to sleep over somewhere.

So how do you say yes? First of all, technology makes this all easier. Remember, with cell phones and texting, your teen is never really out of touch with you. It’s simple enough to know what is going on and keep tabs if that is what you want.

But first, here are the musts of sleepovers that your teen should agree to in order to be able to go (and consider this: most if not all of these would be musts even if your teen did not have diabetes).

• You must speak with the parent in charge first. Why? Because you need to make sure your child and his or her friends are being honest about what they are doing. (Yes, that’s hard to grasp, but it’s your job to check in and make sure everything is on the up and up. If your child lied about where he or she was going, they would not be the first to have ever done that.) A phone call a day ahead of time to the parent in charge at the home must happen, even if your teen pitches a fit about it. You can let your teen know this actually has little to do with diabetes—you’d be doing it anyway. It’s what cautious parents do.

• The parent in charge must know your child has diabetes. This is non-negotiable. You don’t need to go into the details of how to care for a child with diabetes, nor do you need to train the parent in giving shots or treating lows (more on that in a bit). But it is your obligation to let the parent know. If there ever were to be a problem—goodness forbid—it would be grossly unfair for that parent not to have had a heads-up prior to the evening. Your teen may blanch at this. But tell teens it’s just simply the polite thing to do. You can give them the option to tell the parents on their own, but you need to confirm that has happened. Remember to tell the parent that your child can eat anything any other child does and does not need the parent to provide “special food.” Remember, most people do not know this.

• Your teen must set up with you an agreed-to plan for diabetes care that evening. Don’t expect teens to be perfect; just look for them to be safe. You know they’ll probably be eating chips and other things that make keeping track difficult. Don’t demand they count out chips into a bowl and eat only those.

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