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Kids Share Their Hopes, Fears, and Tips for Managing Diabetes in School

A typical school morning for six-year-old Eleanor includes getting dressed, eating breakfast, brushing her hair and teeth, and grabbing her backpack as she trots out the door to the bus. Sometimes Eleanor eats breakfast on the way out the door and sometimes her mother gives her lunch money rather than packing her lunch. Eleanor doesn't have diabetes.

Noelle, age 8, of Oregon, does. Her morning starts at 6:00 a.m. with a finger prick to check her blood sugar. While Noelle is getting dressed, her mother gets her breakfast and insulin shot ready. Noelle's lunch is carefully packed with the proper amount of carbohydrates. When she leaves, Noelle makes sure she has all her school items plus her waist pack, which holds her glucose monitor and her emergency stash in case she has low blood sugar.

 

Sound familiar?

Being a kid is supposed to be about playing baseball, finding that perfect outfit for the school dance, playing tag at recess, going to sleepovers, or having a crush on the boy or girl next to you in math class. But sometimes it seems like having type 1 diabetes ruins all that. You always have to worry about checking your blood sugar and taking the right amount of insulin and having enough snacksand then you worry what other kids will think when they see you doing all these things.

Life with type 1 diabetes requires a lot of planning and preparationand yes, some worry. But guess what? You can still have lots of fun and do the things you enjoy. Kids all across the country are proving every day that diabetes doesn't have to stop them from following and achieving their dreams. What about you?

Even if you are the only kid in your school with diabetes, you are still not alone. C.F.K. talked to some kids and teens with diabetes to see how they deal with the disease, especially when it comes to school situations. Read on to find out what they had to say.

Being "the kid with diabetes" >>