Infants
Toddlers
Pre-School
Primary School
Intermediate Level
Puberty
As your child develops, so will the psychological impact their diabetes has on the family unit. This can put relationships under pressure as parents juggle the changing needs of their diabetic child with work and other family commitments.
From your child's first months, when you may feel over-protective and anxious; through their infant years, when they will crave and hunt down sweets; to their school years, during which time your child will take over responsibility for managing their diabetes, you should all work together to understand and 'normalise' their condition.
And if you are feeling overwhelmed, help is at hand.
The following guide will help you bring some stability to these changing times.
The psychological effect of diabetes in the family will be different at different ages and depends very much on the child's development and basic needs for that age.
Naturally, parents will often feel unsure about how to handle specific situations, and may on occasion need expert help to address particular issues. Sometimes the help of a child psychologist will be appropriate. It is a good idea to let all children and adolescents see the psychologist at least once during the early months after diagnosis. That way, if parents feel psychological help is necessary at a later date, the initial contact will already have been made.
Marianne Helgesson who is a psychologist at the Department of Paediatrics in Linköping, Sweden, lectures on psychology and diabetes in individuals at different ages. She teaches the following:
- It is not always easy to accommodate three people in a marriage. The first crack between spouses often appears when the first child is born. Discussions and disputes begin to focus on how to organize time, something that may not have been an issue before.
- It will become a question of balance as to how much time and care one should devote to the child, to one's partner and to oneself. The parents must come to an agreement on how work at home should be divided, and whether one of them or both will be able to pursue a career.
- Child raising is for the most part a repetition of how you were brought up yourself, since this is the only model you are familiar with. But usually there are two parents, both with their own upbringing behind them. Conflicts are inevitable and the result will be a combination of both parents' previous experiences.
However, if the child has a chronic illness, there is can be a lack of role models and this will make parents feel insecure.
When should children take over responsibility for diabetes control?
During the early school years, all children expand their skills across a wide range of areas: athletic, artistic, academic and self-control. As a natural part of this generalized increased ability in many fields, children will also gradually increase their participation in, and responsibility for, various diabetes-related tasks. However, current research indicates that parents should continue to take part in diabetes tasks throughout these years. It is helpful if the expectation for continued parental involvement throughout the primary school years and into adolescence is introduced to children and families by the diabetes team as early as possible. Don't hand over responsibility too early!