Samson is NOT completely unlimited in what he eats. I mean we let him eat everything we let Zane eat – but we rule out a lot of junk food we see other kids eating, or require it to be eaten in moderation. And we make each of them eat at least a few bites of each food on their plate when it’s dinner and they can’t complain about the food.
Ironically I would say we were more strict about his food before diabetes. We never served the kids candies, and we did dessert once a week. We insisted on serving veggies as snacks. But with lows and the unpredictability of bolusing for foods they don’t eat (and going low if he skips meals altogether) we have had to loosen our food standards to allow for a lot more pizza, mac n’ cheese, and generally blah American kid style foods.
These things are in moderation in my house also but I don’t prohibit Liam from anything at all that we have in the house and that the other kids eat. Moderation in all things is very important. This applies to everything really.
We are very fortunate that our kids love all vegetables.
So funny, same for us too! Things have become a lot “sweeter” because we want to make sure he won’t feel like he is missing something. Isn’t that weird?
This is just healthy parenting. As my older son as has taken control of his diet, it has regressed, but my diabetic son will go with us to amazing restaurants and eat everything.
When both of my kids were smaller they would eat everything. We were on a vacation in Canada and ended up in a restaurant where the chef had kids the same age and came out and asked if they wanted him to make chicken nuggets or something like that, and my kids said no, they wanted meat popsicles. The chef asked the kids (ages 5 and 3) what meat popsicles were, and was delighted to find out that they were rack of lamb cooked so you can grab each rib like a popsicle.
Off he went, so happy, and cooked my kids a 3 course meal that included meat popsicles, everyone was happy that night. It was even cooler that he only charged us for the adult portions.
He’s dead set on getting in…or at least applying. He watches the site regularly and has watched all the “dorm” videos, etc., He already knows where he wants to stay (the only dorm that allows cats (East campus), and there isn’t another institution he wants to go too more for his area of study (Aerospace Engineering).
Every summer since he started high school, we give him a “summer assignment” to answer about 200 questions I put together regarding different universities - study programs, campus life, financial aid, scholarships, things to do in the surrounding area, pros/cons, etc.,…just many categories.) His assignment is to complete this research for each of his top 5 preferred universities. He’s researched MIT and started Georgia Institute of Technology. Stanford is on the list as are California Institute of Technology and the University of Michigan. Also, I’ve asked him to research Purdue.
MIT is the #1 university for undergrad Aerospace Engineering so it’s where he wants to go. However, he’s not researched any of the other universities in-depth yet so who knows. Also, he WILL be applying to all 6 because one can never put all their eggs in a single basket.
I’ve heard it’s very intense – they have to send out emails to people at the end of each semester reminding them that they do, in fact, need to eat an sleep, etc.
A friend went to Cal Tech and didn’t enjoy her time there, but I think part of it was because she was a girl (astrophysics major) and had varied interests, and there really weren’t many people on campus who shared her breadth of interests, few girls she could befriend (her major was very boy heavy) and few classes outside the technical areas that she could take to satisfy her curiosity. She wanted to go to MIT and got accepted there, but tuition was too high. I think for someone with very narrow or almost exclusively technical interests Cal Tech could be really good.
If your son has broader interests then MIT would be better – they really do have strong programs not just in technical fields, but in some of the humanities as well, meaning he could have some enrichment classes as well.
Stanford is fabulous and has a lot to offer of course, and it definitely puts people in a good position for success simply for networking reasons. I think this is actually a HUGE thing to consider with schools – if your son wants to do something like becoming an entrepreneur, Purdue may be just as strong technically but his network of colleagues won’t wind up being as plugged in, and so he’ll have fewer elite connections. That’s what I’ve found with going to a state school in both a highly ranked liberal arts program and a highly ranked engineering program. I had lots of really smart, talented friends, but they consistently aimed their sights lower than those people I knew who were similarly talented but went to more elite institutions.
Part of his research requirements is regarding acceptance rates as the percentage of freshman who makes it through the year into the Sophomore year as well as those who begin who also graduate. He’s aware that any of these institutions are going to be not only competitive but also difficult to stay in once accepted. It’s why we’re drilling him now because the “lifelines” that he has now won’t be there once he’s enrolled somewhere.
He’s a very intelligent kid. He knew how to read at 1 1/2 years old, has been in junior Mensa since he was very young (3 years old) and constantly scores in the 99th percentile in standardized testing that the schools give every year. He’s in all Honors/AP courses in a school that he had to get tested to even gain entry into and up to this year, he’s been straight A’s. This year, he’s made 3 B’s. Some of this courses are awarding college credit this year, and more will next year. I don’t think he’ll have any problem where intelligence is concerned, but as his mother and I always remind him…“Intelligence isn’t enough…you also have to have a good work ethic (work hard).”
He’ll probably end up enrolling in his top 10 or 15 choices just to be sure he gets into SOMEWHERE.
Not feedback at all on which college to go to, that is a very personal choice. However, I have a cousin who was an engineer in the shuttle program, he was the lead engineer at one point for one of the shuttle bays.
Most every engineer I have ever talked to i.e. Biomedical, Aerospace, etc, says to ensure you have a degree that isn’t super specialized for undergrad (graduate school is different), and make sure to have one of the top discipline area as a major or co-major. This includes every Biomedical engineer I know (>10) saying that they would never get that degree again because other engineers looked down on them. So it would be wise to ensure you have an electrical, mechanical, civil, etc. as a major or co-major. You can always go to a school with an Aerospace program or focus.
totally agree! I have a mech E undergrad and a bio E grad degree – I could tell even during my grad program that I was basically learning dumbed-down, bastardized versions of some of the other information from other disciplines. I would have been better served picking one of those and then learning the other stuff I needed on the fly.
This thread made me think about my parenting style and rules around food. My husband and I have always focused on “eating healthy” as a family. We limited junk food, candy, pop and fast food - all rules applied to the whole family. We have 2 adult glucose normal daughters (they are 26 & 23 now) and from the beginning we were very attuned to the balance between encouraging healthy eating habits with the hope that we didn’t create/exacerbate body image issues (no need to add to society/peer pressures around looks/body image that exist already). For us it was all about open communication.
Recently, while our youngest was staying with us for a week (we recently adopted a big, active Chocolate Lab), she said “I love how healthy I eat when I visit you…sometimes I don’t take the time to do that for myself but I appreciate it when I’m here”!
I hear the passion in all of the responses…we are all doing the best we know how. I love that about FUD!
I.do see a big problem here. He knew his parent’s/doctor’s rules and tried to cover it up. Learning to deal with diabetes means learning to eat properly, NOT learning how to “sneak” behind you parents’ back. I’m sure the adults spend much time learning, and teaching the family about diabetes and it’s dangers. Their efforts should be respected and sending their son to replace the missing items is, IMHO, good parenting, showing son responsibility for his actions.