Growing Up with Diabetes: What Children Want Their Parents to Know [Paperback]

"I am a 21-year-old chiropractic student who has had diabetes for over 10 years," writes the author, who has been working with children and teenagers with diabetes since she was 15 and founded a camp for young people with diabetes. This slim book is "what children want their parents to know" about dealing with the social and emotional issues of diabetes, a perspective lacking in most books about this condition. For example, "My parents were worried about the long-term impact of diabetes and how it would change my life and my family's life. I was worried that I wouldn't [miss] my school field trip."

McAuliffe teaches parents important concepts like not blaming yourself if your child has diabetes, accepting that your child will have diabetes forever, not transmitting a negative attitude, and letting your child be a "normal" kid. She also teaches strategies for dealing with daily life, such as including siblings in diabetes education and emergency training, educating your child's teacher and classmates, and giving siblings without diabetes some extra attention. McAuliffe gives no medical advice--plenty of other books do that. She shares from her heart and experience what it was like being a kid with diabetes and how parents can make it easier or more difficult. --Joan Price

Managing childhood diabetes is essential to avoid short- and long-term complications. At the same time, the child must be able to enjoy normal activities despite the condition. This balancing act frequently results in overly protective parents and a child who rebels against the regimen of shots, tests, and meal plans. McAuliffe, a 21-year-old chiropractic student, was diagnosed with diabetes at age 11 and is a peer counselor, support group leader, and founder of a diabetes camp for young people. Her book explores the disease's emotional and psychological aspects with the hope of making diabetes management less of a battle between parent and child. Notwithstanding her personal experiences, there is little of substance here to help struggling parents. McAuliffe writes of the need for educating the child's teachers and classmates about diabetes but does not explain how parents might do this. The few quotes from young people on a child's view of diabetes, e.g., "Get an attitude of determination and get on with life," are too generic to be either revealing or helpful. The scant bibliography consists almost solely of materials from the publisher. A better choice is Pat Kelly's Coping with Diabetes (Rosen, 1998).AKaren McNally Bensing, Benjamin Rose Inst. Lib., Cleveland
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

A chance to step into your child's shoes. When your child was diagnosed with diabetes your first priority was probably to learn everything you could about diabetes and how to manage it. Whether your child is a youngster or a teenager, you've done your best to help with injections, meals and snacks, and the many other elements of a diabetes management program. But through all this, you may be overlooking the importance of your child's social and emotional development. Children want to be normal, and diabetes makes them "different." Many well-meaning parents inadvertently focus too much on their child's diabetes, and not enough on other aspects of their child's life. This unique book, written by a young woman who was diagnosed with diabetes at age 11, gives you the opportunity to understand and relate to your child's feelings. Drawing on the author's own experiences and those of the many children and young adults she's counseled, this sensitive guide explains:
* How children feel when they're diagnosed
* Why diabetes is a bigger adjustment for you than for your child
* How to encourage a healthy approach to diabetes
* The importance of diabetes education
* How to make your child's life as normal as possible
* Dealing with outside forces (school, day care, relatives, etc.)
* Eliminating the power struggle for independence in adolescence
* Books to Fund A Cure * A portion of this book's proceeds will go to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International, a not-for-profit voluntary health agency, whose primary objective is to support and fund research to find the cause, cure, treatment, and prevention of diabetes and its complications. Juvenile Diabetes Foundation Library Health

A chance to step into your child’s shoes. When your child was diagnosed with diabetes your first priority was probably to learn everything you could about diabetes and how to manage it. Whether your child is a youngster or a teenager, you’ve done your best to help with injections, meals and snacks, and the many other elements of a diabetes management program. But through all this, you may be overlooking the importance of your child’s social and emotional development. Children want to be normal, and diabetes makes them "different." Many well-meaning parents inadvertently focus too much on their child’s diabetes, and not enough on other aspects of their child’s life. This unique book, written by a young woman who was diagnosed with diabetes at age 11, gives you the opportunity to understand and relate to your child’s feelings. Drawing on the author’s own experiences and those of the many children and young adults she’s counseled, this sensitive guide explains:

• How children feel when they’re diagnosed
• Why diabetes is a bigger adjustment for you than for your child
• How to encourage a healthy approach to diabetes
• The importance of diabetes education
• How to make your child’s life as normal as possible
• Dealing with outside forces (school, day care, relatives, etc.)
• Eliminating the power struggle for independence in adolescence

• Books to Fund A Cure • A portion of this book’s proceeds will go to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International, a not-for-profit voluntary health agency, whose primary objective is to support and fund research to find the cause, cure, treatment, and prevention of diabetes and its complications. Juvenile Diabetes Foundation Library Health

Alicia McAuliffe is a 21-year-old student who was diagnosed with diabetes at age 11. She has been counseling children and young adults with diabetes for six years, and is the founder of the Circle of Life Camp, Inc., a not-for-profit camp for young people with diabetes.