The Bottom Line
By Linda M. Siminerio, RN, PhD, CDE and Jean Betschart, MN, MSN, CPNP, CDE; 165 pages. From the book cover: "Features the latest advances in diabetes care -- with lots of problem-solving examples and easy-to-read tables throughout."
From doing urine tests on diapers to policing school lunches to talking with a teen about dating and drinking, this guide offers a practical and upbeat look at the challenges of parenting a diabetic child. It’s a book parents will want to keep handy and refer to often.
Pros
- Easy to read for parents and children both.
- Clear, concise instructions make injections and monitoring seem do-able.
- Offers advice for a wide range of needs and circumstances.
- Non-alarmist about possible problems and complications.
- Puts most needed information in an easy-to-find package.
Cons
- Descriptions of injections not for the squeamish.
- Some page references are wrong, raising concerns for what other typos may be included.
- Most material probably available, free, from other sources.
- Your kid is always going to throw you a complication you can't find in any book.
Description
- What Is Diabetes?
- Caring for Your Child with Diabetes
- The Nitty-Gritty 1 -- Insulin Treatment
- The Nitty-Gritty 2 -- Glucose Testing
- The Nitty-Gritty 3 -- Meal Planning
- Playing Games and Sports Safely
- The Highs and Lows of Diabetes
- As Your Child Grows Up
- Living with Diabetes
- Glossary Resources
Guide Review - Book Review:American Diabetes Association Guide to Raising a Child with Diabetes
A diagnosis of juvenile diabetes can be frightening for a child, but overwhelming for a parent. Suddenly, in addition to dealing with their child’s emotions and their own, Mom and Dad have to also take on the roles of nurse, nutritionist, lab technician, detective. Along with giving homework help and driving kids to school and attending soccer games, they’re busy giving injections, performing blood tests, analyzing urine, managing meal plans, forbidding birthday cake. And more than that, they have to master everything well enough to teach their children to do it for themselves one day.
These are challenges parents rise to every day -- it’s nice, after all, to have something clear-cut to do for one’s child. But if you’re the type who likes to have all of your duties and responsibilities clearly spelled out and explained and bound in a handy reference package, this guide will be a nice piece of reassurance. It offers matter-of-fact descriptions of how to give injections -- and how to help kids do it themselves; how to monitor glucose levels and adjust insulin, diet and exercise to compensate; and how to negotiate kids through all the normal activities of childhood, made only a little harder by their diagnosis.
One of the nicest things about this book is that its simple, straightforward language is accessible not only to parents but to children, too. It may be that the easiest way to explain diabetes to a child will be to sit down and read this together.
