My 10 year old son is having a hard time wanting to take care of himself. I start a new job tomorrow, working 10 hour days. My husband and two 14 year old daughters will be in charge of him. I have been trying to help him be self-sufficient, but he refuses to get on the ball and test or give his shots. When he was first diagnosed two and a half years ago, he was really good about it. I don’t want to make it hard on him, but I am constantly having to get on his case. My husband will be less understanding than me. I know this is a hard disease to have and want my son to be comfortable and want to take care of himself. What can I do?

As you know diabetes is a very challenging disease to manage. That is why I think that asking a 10 year old to be responsible for blood sugar checking and his insulin injections can be too much responsibility. What I have found from my clinical experience, and what we has been shown in the research, is that children with diabetes benefit from increased family involvement. I know it is difficult when parents are working and families are busy, but I would recommend that you ask your husband to help your son with his diabetes management tasks when you are at work and then you can help your son when you are home. You said that you don’t think your husband will be very understanding about this, so you and your husband may want to discuss this with your son’s health care team to decide together how to support your son with diabetes. If you are still having problems with this issue, some families find it helpful to meet with a counselor (psychologist or social worker) to discuss diabetes related stressors.

DB