Nick Jonas has Type 1 Diabetes

Doctors really don’t know what causes Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes. Research is being done to explore both genetics and environmental triggers, but many kids who are diagnosed with diabetes have no family history of it at all.

Diabetes is manageable; kids who have this condition can live normal, active lives if they pay close attention to treating their condition. Diabetes can’t be cured, but its effects can be minimized. If your child doesn’t do this conscientiously, he or she might develop several undesirable complications. These can include:

• Neuropathy. This is nerve damage. It commonly causes problems in the legs, but it can also affect other systems in the body as well.

• Retinopathy. Diabetes can cause damage to the eyes, including causing blindness.

• Nephropathy. Nephropathy is kidney disease. Weak kidneys allow toxins to build up in the body and make a child sick.

• Heart Disease. Heart disease is more common to diabetics than non-diabetics. It can lead to other complications such as stroke, embolism, or heart attack.

So how do you know if your child has diabetes? There are some symptoms that all parents should be on the lookout for:

• Excessive thirst. Is your child constantly asking for something to drink?

• Frequent urination. If you find yourself saying, “Are you in the bathroom again?”…pay attention!

• Drowsiness or lethargy. They fall asleep over their homework, or they just can’t get the energy to do things they used to enjoy. If you’ve tried adjusting your child’s bedtime and it isn’t helping, bring this to your doctor’s attention.

• Sugar in urine. Obviously your doctor will have to test this, but it’s a pretty significant indicator.

• Sudden vision changes. The cells in the eyes are being attacked by the immune system, so vision decreases fairly quickly.

• Increased appetite. Are they suddenly hungry all the time, and can’t seem to get enough? They could be going through a growth spurt, as all kids do…but it could be diabetes.

• Sudden weight loss. None of that food is being processed like it should be. Instead of gaining weight, they might lose weight very quickly.

• Fruity, sweet, or wine-like odor on breath. The imbalance of sugar and insulin in the blood can come out in strange ways, including very sweet breath.

• Heavy, labored breathing. Your child might find it hard to catch his or her breath, even if they aren’t doing anything strenuous.

• Stupor, unconsciousness. If diabetes goes too long without being diagnosed, it can cause kids to faint or, in extreme cases, fall into a coma.

Taken alone, most of these symptoms seem harmless, but together, they could indicate the presence of Type 1 diabetes. Don’t be afraid to bring them up to your doctor; he or she can judge whether there’s anything to be concerned about. The sooner you start treatment, the more likely your child is to live a normal, active life.

The Difficult Child, by Stanley Turecki, MD

Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child is More—Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, Energetic, by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka

I am reviewing these books together because they are written on the same issue—the challenges of raising challenging children. Both authors, practitioners and scholars in their field, use the same behavior theory in discussing behavior, and both give similar guidance in living with children with these behaviors. In brief, they talk about a child’s temperament, the way his or her personality is wired, and how that basic temperament is a neutral quality. A child cannot help his emotional wiring, and should not be blamed to punished for being that way. Most parents can relate to this; each of us, I am sure, has noticed something our child has consistently done or a reaction they always have, and said, “You know, she’s always been that way.”

Behaviors, however, are a different matter. No matter what a child’s temperament is like, some behaviors are not acceptable, and many of these behaviors seem to go hand in hand with certain temperaments. Each of these authors offers practical suggestions on how to address behaviors in children of different challenging temperaments, and how to notice those same qualities in ourselves. This is extremely helpful when dealing with a child who might be hard to understand. You can’t help being an introvert, you know how you get when your plans get changed at the last minute, you realize that your intensity is both a bane and a blessing. This self-examination, recommended by both authors, can open the readers’ eyes to what their children are dealing with internally, since children often inherit temperamental traits from their parents.

The differences between the books are really a matter of the reader’s stye. Each one offers similar information and guidance. You may prefer to call your child “spirited,” or you may have no illusions about your kid’s difficult traits. The Turecki book is a bit more scholarly, and is endorsed by other scholars in the field, including Dr. Stella Chess, one of the doctors who ran the pioneering decades-long study on temperament in people. The Kurcinka book is more chatty, and includes some of her sessions with a parents’ support group, so she is chronicling the real life experiences of people you get to know—one m\or more of whom is likely something like the reader. Both authors stress the dignity of the child, though Kurcinka puts more emphasis on avoiding labels and exploring the positive aspects of your child’s temperament. One of the best things about both of these books is that the reader is brought to see that their children’s difficult personality traits also have a good side. In fact, they’re often the things we love most about our kids.

Since every human being has an inborn, unchangeable temperament, these books would be useful for parents whose kids wouldn’t fall into the “difficult” or “spirited” categories. They’re not bad for taking a good look at ourselves, either.