- Find Us
Print
By Karen Hargrave-Nykaza
When we think of our kids with diabetes, it’s easy for our minds to immediately go to the ways in which diabetes limits what they, or we, think that they can do. There are obvious physical limitations that diabetes imposes, regardless of what kind of good control someone has over their blood sugar. Low blood sugars, needing to eat certain foods at certain times, and the effects of exercise kicking in at unpredictable times are all part of living with diabetes no matter what you do. There are so many facts that set us up to think of diabetes in terms of the limitations it creates.
While I definitely tend to be a glass-half-empty kind of person, after your child has lived with the disease for awhile, you also can’t help but begin to see some of the strengths that can come with having diabetes. Certainly nothing that could ever offset how much the disease sucks, but strengths nonetheless.
Kids who grow up with diabetes can become more responsible at an early age. They learn about being prepared for emergencies because they’re used to being prepared for a low; they understand what working through adversity and difficulty means, and they know how to do it; and they may not accept what they see as limitations as easily as someone who hasn’t had to push their own limits quite as hard. This may create a determination, or even a rebellion, that allows them to believe there is little or nothing they can’t accomplish.
When you look at what certain individuals with diabetes have done with their lives, it gives you even more hope and inspiration. Celebrities and athletes who have lived and achieved great success can teach us all that nothing should hold our children back from striving to achieve great things. Halle Berry, Mary Tyler Moore, Jean Smart, Nick Jonas, and Brett Michaels are just a few celebrities who have lived in the spotlight with diabetes and had very successful careers. Perhaps they were even motivated by some of those hidden strengths. Sean Busby, Arthur Ashe, Gary Hall Jr., and Billie Jean King took that a step further by competing in professional sports despite having type 1 diabetes.
So each time we think of diabetes and the limitations it presents our kids, maybe we also need to think of a corresponding strength it may be providing them with. We have all heard that great strength comes from great adversity. No matter how much we may not want to admit that diabetes could ever provide our child with something positive, it may be true, and could even develop into a long lasting trait that benefits our child for years to come.
Read more of Karen Hargrave's columns here.
Disclaimer
dLife's Daily Living columnists are not all medical experts, but everyday people living with diabetes and sharing their personal experiences. While their method of diabetes management may work for them, everyone is different. Please consult with your diabetes care team to find out what will work best for you.
Topic: go for gold
Recipe Shuffle
-
From Our Sponsor -
From Our Sponsor -
-
-
-
