A New Lesson

Summer vacation is days or even weeks away and all parents are feeling the effects of their children’s excitement for it to start. I call this phenomenon end-of-the-yearitis. All of my kids are blowing off homework, procrastinating and doing anything they can to get outside as soon as they get dismissed from school. This excitement took on a new form for me because instead of it affecting homework and chores, I saw the signs of end-of-the-yearitis when it came to Deacon in how he took care of his diabetes.

Deacon has slowly been taking more care of himself during the school year. ( He seems to have hit the independence point of being 7.) He has been testing himself, bolusing himself and, as of a month ago, he has been trying to add the amount of carbs on a calculator. I have even allowed him to stay at home with his oldest brother while I go run to the neighborhood supermarket. He has called me while I have been there, and he and I have walked through BG’s, carb counts and bolus amounts. I have to say that he has been doing great until recently. That is when I realized summer fever has hit him but not in the way it hits a non-d child. Over a course of three days, Deacon had three separate incidents that needed him and I to have a sit down after each time to remind him of the importance of the rules. A consequence from one of these incidents was that he lost the privilege to stay home with his brother while I run to the store. I have also spread the word throughout the neighborhood that if anyone sees Deacon at their house or on his bike without his small backpack, then he is to be sent home to get it.

This has been a learning experience for me because I learned that summer fever can affect a d-child in unexpected ways. This also may help me when Deacon is older and forgetful of his diabetes care. Maybe I will be more understanding to the reasons why these things happen. I learned that it is okay to allow Deacon to take more control over is own care, and waiting for an “oops” was the best thing. He and I were able to discuss what happened and why he was getting the consequences that he did.

It was hard for me to relinquish some of the control because he was diagnosed when he was 2 1/2, but Deacon is the one who will be living with this so he has the right to take on more when he feels comfortable to be doing so, and I have the right to rein him in when mistakes happen. I can say that Deacon has been reined in until I feel that he can be more attentive to the rules. I will also keep this in the back of my mind for the future..Deacon will probably show signs of excitement in ways that his brothers cannot.