Raising Teens with Diabetes: A Survival Guide for Parents

Moira McCarthy clearly gets it. She's a parent to a child with type 1 diabetes, and her book focuses on how to keep diabetes in check when going through the rough teenage years. She doesn't come off as the perfect d-mom - in fact, she describes, in detail, her issues with her daughter's burnout and her moments of frustration with diabetes and how she got through them.Raising Teens with Diabetes is so thorough. While I was reading, I would find myself thinking of questions, and sure enough, the next chapter would deal with just what I was thinking of. Topics include how to write a 504 plan for public schools (and how to deal with the lack of 504 plans in college), suggestions on how to share logbooks and readings through apps and smartphones, ideas on transitioning teens into more independence (like sleepovers and school trips), how to parent children who don't have diabetes, and even super important, often-ignored issues like how diabetes interacts with sex, drinking, and even more serious issues like depression, eating disorders, and drugs. Moira gives great advice on how to involve family members: "Reach out to your family members and ask them what they fear, and then educate that fear right out of them."Moira doesn't just write from her own perspective, either. She includes advice and insight on what it's like raising a teen with diabetes as a divorced parent, or as a person with T1 themselves. Plenty of others in the diabetes world have helpful sidebars, giving different perspectives, and her daughter has a few short essays, too.She includes extra resources like a sample driving contract, lists of advocacy groups to get involved in, and websites of diabetes camps to check out that are super helpful, too.Basically, if you had a question or concern about raising your child with T1 into a teenager with T1 and eventually an independent, functioning adult with T1, Moira's got you covered. I feel so much more prepared as a parent after reading her book and I highly recommend it!

This is one of our favorite books at the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi! Parents have told us how much it helped when their pre-teen or teen was diagnosed-growth hormone and insulin resistance, why you need to help your teen with daily self management tasks to prevent burnout, mood swings-it's all there and told with warmth and humor. Keep publishing this book because we have noticed a huge upswing in teen diagnoses this year and parents need this information!

What a wonderfully worded book. Many topics I found myself nodding along happily because at last someone was speaking the same language. Others, I read intently because we haven't had to tackle those topics yet but it sure is wonderful to read the words from someone who has been there. All of us dealing with T1 juggle well. It is often frustrating to hear others from the non-T1 world pass along how we could do better. It is a refreshing bonus to hear what we are doing is so unique to our child yet similar in the manner that no matter how we "manage" the disease, at times it is just unmanageable. Having these words of wisdom for those days where the numbers decide to do something new is just great. Thank you for writing this book, its a great connection for those of us without a strong T1 community around us. Buy it, read it, share it with everyone you know touched by Type 1.

Teen years are hard enough without diabetes on board and even harder with it. Thanks to Moira McCarthy and this book I now have a game plan. It's hard to believe it's been 8 years since my 3-year old was diagnosed with T1D. We had no family experience so the diagnosis took us completely by surprise so we had a lot to learn. Since then we have learned a lot and one of the biggest things I learned is when the teen years hit - all bets are off. Moira and her daughter Lauren share their experiences for us to learn from in such an honest, humorous way. I really appreciate their perspective and feel more prepared for what's coming. Thanks!

This book was excellent, and I would highly recommend it for all parents with T1D children. It is certainly a book that I will keep in my library for a reference so I can go back and reinforce Moira's advice. I think as parents of a child with this disease we are so caught up and overwhelmed with trying to take care of our child and learn and do everything right that sometimes we don't stop to think about what's going on in our child's mind and how our actions are affecting them. This book is a MUST READ FOR ALL T1D PARENTS!!

I was listening to the doctors who were making me feel like I was doing something wrong and that my daughter was not acting like most diabetic teens....until I read this. Especially the portions from her daughter, Lauren (my daughters name as well) and what it was like for her. Especially the burnout stage. Doesn't mean this is all so easy now, but I don't feel alone and have hope. Great source, thank you!

Thank you, Moira McCarthy, for writing a realistic look about the next few years in our lives and presenting options and alternatives for caring for our soon-to-be teenager. The input from the author’s daughter makes Raising Teens with Diabetes a book that I will share with our child, as not only the parents need to survive but also the parents-child relationship. Especially helpful is the insider view for planning ahead and being prepared for what will/might happen and the encouragement that life continues on the other side of these tumultuous years.

I think of myself as an experienced type 1 mom but I am always looking to read good books to gather more information about this life I now lead along with both my type 1 girls. Thank you Moira for a well written book. Having two teen girls this comes in handy especially with my oldest now being a senior! Everything was valuable info and I would highly recommend this to any parent! I've bookmarked spits I want to go back and reread when something comes up!!

I did not find this book very helpful but perhaps that is because I am a healthcare professional. Parents may find it comforting to hear that someone has already experienced what they are going through. They may also be more inclined to take the advice given by the healthcare professional as it is the same as in the book. It very American and it would be good to have something similar written by a British parent who can relate it to the British school and college system. The actual behaviours experienced by the author are the same behaviours that teenagers in Britain display proving that teenagers world wide are very similar.