# What is the RIGHT age (self-management) **URL:** \ **Category:** Child\ **Created:** [February 1, 2019, 1:06am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371 "2019-02-01T01:06:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ClaudnDaye](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/claudndaye/32/5_2.png) [@ClaudnDaye](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/ClaudnDaye)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 3:51pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/21 "2019-02-01T15:51:46Z")
> [@Eric](#): > > It’s a gradual process, but it can start very early with involving him in what you are doing. The decisions you make, explain the whole process and “think out loud”. Just basically talk through the decisions you make and get him involved in the process. Ask his thoughts. Even if his ideas are not right, let him express it and involve him in it. Definitely plan on doing this. Asking him the same questions we asked him to get him able to check his own BG’s. What’s this? What’s it for? Do you know where this goes? Etc., Just keep asking him these questions so that, at the very least, he’s able to identify the things we use to get him familiar with them. > [@Eric](#): > > Tell him Mr. Eric has an Amazon gift card for him as a reward for when he does his very first pod change all by himself - removing the old one, filling, priming, putting on, and activating. No hurry, it will be waiting for him. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![ClaudnDaye](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/claudndaye/32/5_2.png) [@ClaudnDaye](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/ClaudnDaye)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 4:05pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/22 "2019-02-01T16:05:11Z")
> [@LarissaW](#): > > Like Eric said - positive enforcement! In how you praise as well as tangible things. And that really stuck with me, so I would recommend Thanks! I am definitely a proponent of positive reinforcement with all my kids, but especially for Liam. No child should have to deal with this so it behooves Erin and I to teach him well, teach him gently and make him LIKE (as much as one can) the processes involved in his daily care so that he respects the process and values it for what it is - life saving. > [@LarissaW](#): > > Regarding carb counting - my parents packed my lunch each day and would leave a note with how many carbs were in it This is more than likely the method we’re going to use too. It has the least amount of potential variability with it. > [@LarissaW](#): > > Also something to note - I was really terrible at remembering to let my parents know when I was running low on hypo treats at school so they learned they needed to ask me. Yes, as @TiaG indicated, Liam is the same…sometimes he’ll start whining and we won’t know why and he’ll say something like I want some food…so we’re learning when he does this, it COULD MEAN he’s low…because many times he whines and asks for food, it’s because he’s low. We’re trying to get him to feel that he’s low and express that in words “Papa, I think I’m low and need some food.” So that we can differentiate it from just normal whining that 5 year olds do naturally. The last thing I want for him is to be hypo-unaware. We’re really taking advice on asking him “How do you feel?” and any BG we ask “What do you think the number is?” (Beat the Dexcom). Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Chris](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/chris/32/382_2.png) [@Chris](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Chris)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 4:19pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/23 "2019-02-01T16:19:06Z")
> [@LarissaW](#): > > my parents packed my lunch each day and My son has brought a lunch from home every day since diagnosis. (By his choice, not ours). Interestingly his friends are quite envious of our leftovers. We have these small lunch containers so he will pull out an amazing cobb salad, and drizzle his homemade salad dressing on his salad and eat away, or heat up a glazed pork chop with roasted brussel sprouts covered in clarified butter and salt and pour extra glaze on his meat. The only sacrifice we have had to make is to cut his meat before sending him off, since the plastic spork isn’t going to cut a pork chop, and an actual knife is a weapon, until he magically reaches college when it is just a knife again. ---
**Author:** ![ClaudnDaye](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/claudndaye/32/5_2.png) [@ClaudnDaye](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/ClaudnDaye)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 4:20pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/24 "2019-02-01T16:20:36Z")
> [@Chris](#): > > My son has brought a lunch from home every day since diagnosis. (By his choice, not ours). Interestingly his friends are quite envious of our leftovers. We have these small lunch containers so he will pull out an amazing cobb salad, and drizzle his homemade salad dressing on his salad and eat away, or heat up a glazed pork chop with roasted brussel sprouts covered in clarified butter and salt and pour extra glaze on his meat. Yeah, our house won’t be nothing like that. 😛 Unless his friends get envious over PB&J and stuff like that. lol ---
**Author:** ![glitzabetes](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/glitzabetes/32/4287_2.png) [@glitzabetes](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/glitzabetes)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/25 "2019-02-01T16:26:56Z")
> [@ClaudnDaye](#): > > Yeah, our house won’t be nothing like that. 😛 Unless his friends get envious over PB&J and stuff like that. lol Alongside my pb&j or whatever my mother used to pack me a crystal light packet to put in my water. Kids were definitely envious of that haha ---
**Author:** ![ClaudnDaye](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/claudndaye/32/5_2.png) [@ClaudnDaye](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/ClaudnDaye)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 4:41pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/26 "2019-02-01T16:41:06Z")
I do know that the kids are always going to be envious of his ability to dip into his “snacks” anytime he wants or needs. 😛 If I saw a kid getting candy when I was in school, I’d have been drooling. ---
**Author:** ![LarissaW](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/larissaw/32/5754_2.png) [@LarissaW](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/LarissaW)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 4:42pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/27 "2019-02-01T16:42:34Z")
> [@ClaudnDaye](#): > > We’re really taking advice on asking him “How do you feel?” and any BG we ask “What do you think the number is?” (Beat the Dexcom). Does he have a telltale sign of lows at the moment? For me - I would get shaky hands. If I was acting strange, initially my parents would ask “do you have hypoglycemia?” (due to lack of medical vocab and also lack of experience in identifying it). As we learned, it would cut right to “hands shaking?” if I was acting weird or drowsy. Then I’d check my shakiness and report back to mom or dad on it. Maybe something like X=low and instead of asking “low”, ask “X.” Personally, that was easier to grasp as a child and made it feel less medical and abstract. BG number guessing is a great game to play. I would do that with the school nurse each day when I would go at lunch. I’m not sure if it made me more hypo aware, but it certainly kept me less peeved with missing out on part of lunch to treck to the nurses. ---
**Author:** ![ClaudnDaye](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/claudndaye/32/5_2.png) [@ClaudnDaye](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/ClaudnDaye)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/28 "2019-02-01T16:43:38Z")
> [@LarissaW](#): > > Does he have a telltale sign of lows at the moment? For him, it’s being drowsy and whiny. But these two things can mean other things too, so whene we see these, we check his BG. ---
**Author:** ![LarissaW](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/larissaw/32/5754_2.png) [@LarissaW](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/LarissaW)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/29 "2019-02-01T16:43:40Z")
@Chris this just made me so hungry… wait lunch is soon right!!? ---
**Author:** ![LarissaW](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/larissaw/32/5754_2.png) [@LarissaW](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/LarissaW)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/30 "2019-02-01T16:45:21Z")
Ya those don’t work because that’s every kid (and adult lol). I’ll ask my parents when I’m home tonight if they used any tactics for adjusting me to “feeling” my #s ---
**Author:** ![ClaudnDaye](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/claudndaye/32/5_2.png) [@ClaudnDaye](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/ClaudnDaye)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/31 "2019-02-01T16:48:00Z")
He is telling us sometimes when he feels low. However, he’s right 50% of the time or about that. So it’s great that he sometimes feels it, but sometimes it’s only because he knows low = snack, candy, etc., ---
**Author:** ![LarissaW](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/larissaw/32/5754_2.png) [@LarissaW](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/LarissaW)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 4:54pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/32 "2019-02-01T16:54:23Z")
You could use the CVS glucose tabs for treating lows (the REALLY chalky ones). I bet he wouldn’t want to report feeling low just for the candy anymore LOL. jkjk But I feel like 50% of the time is actually pretty good? Especially for his age, if I were diagnosed earlier I don’t think I would be close to being that with it. ---
**Author:** ![ClaudnDaye](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/claudndaye/32/5_2.png) [@ClaudnDaye](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/ClaudnDaye)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 4:54pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/33 "2019-02-01T16:54:48Z")
> [@LarissaW](#): > > You could use the CVS glucose tabs for treating lows (the REALLY chalky ones). We use these too. He likes them… ---
**Author:** ![ClaudnDaye](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/claudndaye/32/5_2.png) [@ClaudnDaye](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/ClaudnDaye)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 4:55pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/34 "2019-02-01T16:55:28Z")
> [@LarissaW](#): > > But I feel like 50% of the time is actually pretty good? Yeah, we always praise him whether he’s right or wrong. At least he’s THINKING about it…and that’s the most important thing in our opinions, right now. ---
**Author:** ![LarissaW](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/larissaw/32/5754_2.png) [@LarissaW](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/LarissaW)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 4:56pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/35 "2019-02-01T16:56:43Z")
Completely agree!! ---
**Author:** ![Michel](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/michel/32/387_2.png) [@Michel](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Michel)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 5:17pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/36 "2019-02-01T17:17:56Z")
> [@ClaudnDaye](#): > > I still have the one you sent us in May 2017. That one? Same one! I could not remember if you had the latest. I should day, though, that I would add probably one more thing today, which is not a big deal for you yet: give him less demanding classes early morning when possible so that he may recover from bad BG nights when he has to stay up by arriving late. His upcoming high school tells me they are willing to do that when possible. ---
**Author:** ![ClaudnDaye](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/claudndaye/32/5_2.png) [@ClaudnDaye](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/ClaudnDaye)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 5:25pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/37 "2019-02-01T17:25:39Z")
Any child with diabetes who is self managing I would think would be having bad nights all the time…especially hormonal kids. Or? I wake up a minimum of 5 times per night. Because I was missing highs mostly (because there are no jarring alarms or calls for highs), I started setting an alarm for every 2 hours to get up and check his BGs…if they are high, I correct and go back to sleep for another 2 hours. Whenever they’re doing this alone, I’m thinking the only difference is they they will be the ones going without the sleep? That can really impact the daily cognition in kids. I don’t look forward to any of that. ---
**Author:** ![cardamom](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/cardamom/32/2622_2.png) [@cardamom](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/cardamom)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/38 "2019-02-01T18:14:02Z")
I think you just have to be ok with a wider range at night. Then it’s not that big of deal—I slept through most nights fine as a self-managing kid, but I sometimes woke up high and occasionally woke up middle of the night for lows. Sleep \> super tight control IMO, especially when you’re talking about hormones and things that don’t last forever. I would set bedtime alarms to a higher “high” threshhold than you do during the day. ---
**Author:** ![cardamom](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/cardamom/32/2622_2.png) [@cardamom](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/cardamom)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/39 "2019-02-01T18:16:47Z")
Also it’s all a balance—if too much sleep disturbance, back off on alarms maybe/let things be a little looser for a bit. Having good sleep but control drifting? Maybe experiment with tightening it up slowly and see how that works. The right balance will shift back and forth and that’s to be expected, so IMO, one of the most important skills to model and impart is how to think about the bigger picture like that. ---
**Author:** ![ClaudnDaye](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/claudndaye/32/5_2.png) [@ClaudnDaye](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/ClaudnDaye)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 6:17pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371/40 "2019-02-01T18:17:14Z")
> [@cardamom](#): > > Sleep \> super tight control IMO, I’m really not waking up for super tight control. I just want to avoid him going into the 300’s and staying there for hours. Which he does on occasion if I don’t wake up to check. If he were between 150 and 220, I’d be OK with that during the nights. It’s difficult when nighttimes are never the same…aka, one night, I have to totally suspend basal for most of the night to keep him from going low, while other nights, if I don’t continue bumping him, he’ll ride into the 300’s during the night. There’s really no way for me to avoid waking up at this point in his life. Nighttime highs account for 60% of our overall highs…I just want to fight this wherever and whenever I can. [Previous page](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371.md?page=1) [Next page](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/what-is-the-right-age-self-management/6371.md?page=3)