Growing Up with Diabetes: What Children Want Their Parents to Know
"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