45: When Your T1D Kid Wants to Feel “Normal” Again

Sweet Talk for Parents of Kids with Type One Diabetes

This week, I had a wonderful conversation with my old T1D mom friend, Tamar. Tamar and I met at camp a million years ago and our children were diagnosed on the same day! She’s a veteran, so you’ll hear a robust conversation about the question. A parent wrote in, saying that her son wants to eat “normally.” Together, Tamar and I think about both how that’s possible — and why it’s vital to meet that need as best as the parent can (while still, of course, trying to keep blood sugars in range). We discuss what anxiety might come up as a parent is trying to strike that balance, and how we parents sometimes may have difficulty containing that anxiety with our kids.

Listen to hear us talk about:

• How restricting food can be subtle: It’s not just saying your child can’t eat a particular food but also by continually offering them the foods you know how to dose for easily
• How important it is to focus on emotional well-being, not just on blood sugars
• How you can think about and hold the idea of the potential “consequences” of diabetes with your kids
• Why it’s better to stay “in the now” with diabetes management and not worry about what’s going to happen in the future
• How to find flexibility with management, and how to accommodate and adjust when things go off the rails
• How to avoid becoming the “diabetes police” while still monitoring diabetes and keeping numbers in range
• How to validate your child’s experience with diabetes

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Need help getting your kid the right snacks?

That's why I've created the Sweet Talk Snack Course. It's a free mini-course to give you 6 snack sized lessons on making sure you're giving your kid the right foods to keep them nourished and their blood sugar in check. Get it at https://diabetessweettalk.com