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My Family
When one child has diabetes, it’s common that other siblings may feel jealous or left out. They may feel that the child with diabetes gets special attention from adults and other family members, and won’t understand the need for all the hospital visits and the extra time spent caring for them.
It can be hard for siblings to adjust to a situation where they think their brother or sister gets all of your time. They may not be able to understand that diabetes is a serious condition, and may just see it as an excuse for time off school and eating snacks during the day. However, with a few minor adjustments and lots of TLC, there is no reason for diabetes to have a negative effect on your family life.
My Friends
It’s not just siblings who have a part to play in your child’s diabetes care though. Often it’s the best friend, who spends time with your child both in and out of school, who is the most important. They may be the ones that make sure your child is testing their blood glucose and injecting insulin at the right times, they’ll remind them to snack when they’re feeling low, and will keep an eye out for them during the day. It’s important not to under-estimate the role of your child’s best friend. Make sure you let his or her parents know how valued their child is as well as ensuring their child feels appreciated and important.
Supporting Each Other
There are many ways you can help brothers, sisters and best friends support the child with diabetes. Here are just a few examples:
- Involve the whole family in caring for the child with diabetes. Work together to come up with fun meal ideas – let the kids’ imaginations run wild creating new recipes and dishes, and have a tasting session which everyone can enjoy.
- Use the “My keeping well chart” you have already received from your child’s nurse as a basis for involving other siblings. You can either customise this chart or purchase other charts from the Encourage & Praise website.
- Don’t keep siblings in the dark. If they start to behave badly it may just be because they don’t understand what diabetes means, or may be worried about what might happen to their brother or sister. They may even be scared that they too may be diagnosed with diabetes. Use the ‘Everything You Need to Know’ poster as a starting point to teach them about diabetes and hypos.
- Involve siblings with blood glucose monitoring, for example by helping get the equipment ready, writing results in the Glucolog record diary, or working with the WinGlucofacts results analysis program on the computer
- Involve the whole family with healthy eating so that you aren’t making a special case for the child with diabetes. The whole family will benefit from eating a healthy balanced diet, and it also means you’ll spend less time cooking separate meals for everyone!
- Remember that diabetes isn’t a barrier to doing fun things as a family. Visit our Away from Home section to read about how you can still give the whole family a treat by going out for a meal, having a party or going on holiday.
- Print a certificate for your child to give to their brother, sister or best friend to show how important they are.
The whole family should try to take regular exercise, so pick something you can all do together such as cycling or ice skating.
Try and combine a trip to the hospital with a visit to a local park or something similar, so the whole family can have fun together.
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