Supporting a child with diabetes type 1
I am delighted to interview Sarah today who is supporting a child with diabetes. She is a woman who juggles work, teaching, parenting, travel and blogging with aplomb. She shares a powerful story of a mum coming to terms with her son’s type 1 diabetes.
What is the striking story you have to share?
This is so hard as I don’t see myself as striking. I think it has to be supporting our family through Jack’s diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. It of course came out of the blue and rocked our world. We stayed strong and fought it together.
What were the joys that this experience brought your way?
Seeing Jack bloom and cope in a positive way. He made me feel so proud. His diagnosis did not tear our family apart and actually it made us so much stronger. Diabetes is part of our life and we have turned it into a positive, as it is part of Jack and who he is. I have also shared tips on Diabetes UK to help other families.
What challenges did this situation bring your way?
Making sure we all understood the implications of diabetes even Joe who was 6 at the time. Then making sure friends around us understood. I had to distance ourselves from one friend as she kept giving her son treats in front of Jack, and whilst you can’t penalize other children I though she may have shown a bit of sensitivity around the situation at least at first.
How do you ensure you get time to yourself and what do you do with that time?
Lately it has all been about blogging. I have started a little blog section with the lovely Karen from Mini Travellers as we are hunting down Me Time activities aimed at the busy Mum.
Have you ever rediscovered or reinvented yourself? How?
I think when I became a parent. We didn’t plan for a family until we had been together for nearly 10 years. We were so used to doing what we wanted when we wanted. I had to learn to be more chilled, less clean obsessed and get used to being less selfish.
Describe at least one physical feature you have that you consider to be beautiful
My eyes. I hope I look happy all the time. People who smile make me feel happy and comfortable. I hope I do this too.
What makes you stand out?
I think the fact that I appear so very confident, when if fact it is all an act. I just push myself but feel like jelly inside. That is the honest truth.
Is it important to you to support other mums?
100% as if we don’t support each other we have no chance do we?
Which mum inspires you?
All Mums inspire me! We cope with so much on a day to day basis. All that multi tasking, selflessness, juggling so many hats at one time is so hard some days. We never pat ourselves on the back. Why? Because it is what we expect of ourselves. Us Mums are a very special community.
What would you like the Government to do to improve the lives of mums?
I would like to see all Mums get more access to education. There are so many Mums that don’t get access to education because of adult learner fees. It is a shame. Unless you fall into a certain bracket you are excluded because of funding and forced to pay extortionate fees.
You can find Sarah on her blog at Extraordinary Chaos
Do you have experience of supporting a child with diabetes?
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3 Comments
Hilary Cooper
Thanks for sharing. I totally agree – all mum’s are inspiring and we need to pat ourselves on the back a bit more often!
Sarah christie
Thank you so much for featuring me Kate, it is such an honour to be on your fab blog xxx
Alexa
Such a lovely post, Diabeties sucks, my brother was disgnosed young.
Very inspirational post.
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Love, Alexa
http://alexajade.co.uk