Preparing for kindergarten and beyond with your T1D kid

Sweet Talk for Parents of Kids with Type One Diabetes

Today’s show touches on a topic that’s close to many of our hearts—preparing our little ones for big life transitions. But as you know, when you’re the parent of a kiddo with type 1 diabetes, those transitions take on a whole new layer of planning and care.

In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Rachel, a proactive mom who’s thinking months ahead about her son’s upcoming leap into kindergarten — and also about his horizon beyond.

As we delve into our conversation, we talk about ways that Rachel can best navigate the school system for her T1D son. I suggest she connect with other T1D families in her school so she can get a sense the inside scoop on how diabetes management works there. We talk about ways to partner with her son’s school care team to build a strong relationship with them (and I also give a nod to my upcoming workshop “Beyond the 504” where I teach about how to do just that). I also make suggestions of how she can bulletproof her son’s 504 plan, in order to maintain more parental decision-making authority.

Rachel is thinking even further ahead: She’s wondering about the challenge of transferring the responsibility of diabetes management to her child over the long run. It’s a dance between fostering independence and being there to catch them when they fall. And trust me, we all have stories about that part of the journey—like the one I share about my daughter’s path to managing her diabetes.

Here’s a sneak peek of other highlights from our conversation:

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• Why advocating for your child requires a balance of assertiveness and relationship-building.
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• Cultural insights into how women are often taught to communicate, and the challenges we face around advocacy because of that.
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• Personal anecdotes that highlight the emotional aspect of slowly passing the baton of diabetes care to our kids.
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• The invaluable role of environments like diabetes camps in fostering self-care and independence.
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I hope you join me for this powerful episode, where we celebrate the courage and dedication of parents like Rachel, who are laying the groundwork for their children to thrive in school and in life, despite the challenges of T1D.

Remember, sweet friends, our journey is sweeter when we walk it together. Keep talking, keep loving, and keep advocating for those sweet ones in our lives.

Mentioned in this episode:

Wanting to create the best relationship with your child’s school care team? Register for Beyond the 504. In this workshop, I’ll walk you through evidence-based tools to approach your child’s school so you can can have the tough conversations you need to have about diabetes management and keeping your child safe at school. Find out more at www.diabetessweettalk.com/workshop