Diabetes requires good health care by the family and the doctor in charge of the disease. If you learn all you can about the disease, it will help when you visit the doctor to ask direct questions, and understand what the doctor is telling you. Your child’s health team and the family must work together for the best results.

Tell your child’s school so they will be aware of any special cares, needs, or any potential issues that may arise while your child is at school. It’s important so they may keep a watchful eye on lunches served, and lunches traded, or even school activities where snacks are brought in.

You will probably be required to give insulin injections, understand the purpose of insulin, the different delivery systems available.  Manufactured insulin works differently for each person. Your doctor may need to experiment to find the best manufactured insulin to use, or a combination of insulin that will best match what their bodies produce.

Sugar substitutes, special recipes, sugar-free candy all are helpful in allowing children with diabetes to live a more normal life. Eating healthy well-balanced meals in the right amounts will help keep your child’s blood glucose levels where they should be. Exercise is important for your child, and by making exercise a fun family time, it will make it seem more like play than working on their diabetes.

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation sponsors and on-line support team made up of both adults and other teens that have diabetes. A person-to-person team will help support teens and parents while facing the challenges of learning to control blood sugar levels. There may be local groups that you can join to get personal support locally.

There are many useful sites on the Internet for parents, children, and teens to help cope with diabetes. You and your child or teen may connect with others who have gone through similar experiences, fears, and other issues. Teenagers will be able to talk to other teens about their experiences of dating, school, driving, and other teen related problems.

If your teen starts sinking into despair, you need to stay positive. There are new techniques being developed every year and the cure for diabetes could be just around the corner. Talk to them about the many famous and successful people that have lived their dream even with having the disease and complications of diabetes. Our teens are at the point in their life where they are looking for the future, if they need help with emotional issues, please contact a trained specialist to help them and you cope with this disease.