To my friends.

I’d like to share something that happened earlier this evening. I posted a status on Facebook about Isabel (aged 4) and her eating habits, and what we are doing to deal with this. The status – to those who don’t know me – may come across as a little harsh. Well, I’m a Brit and a fairly straight-talking one. Those who know me, understand that. I was not expecting to see another D-Mum lash out at me and accuse me of abuse. We all know how hard it is to deal with D in our kids. We all face daily challenges and we all deal with those challenges in different ways. My way is to try to be ALWAYS positive and loving with my whole family, not only my D-family. But we as a family believe VERY strongly that D has to live by our rules, and that we must have discipline and boundaries. I treat both my kids the same way – D or no D. With love, patience and laughter – and with firmness when they need it. Those who know me, know very well that I would never, EVER abuse my kids. We believe that it is important for Isabel to learn – the same as any other kid – respect, tolerance and compassion. And good behaviour and table manners. She also has the added pressure of learning to deal with a lifelong condition and learning to manage it with maturity and self-confidence. She will never learn that if at age 4 she is taught that she can get away with bad behaviour just because she is diabetic. I am actually a bit soft on her most of the time – it’s my T1 husband who is far firmer about the way we manage the kids’ behaviour and the way we manage Isabel’s diabetes, emotionally. We embrace diabetes. We are a stronger, closer, more loving family because of it. We have all learned to be tolerant of others, to live for the moment, to not worry so much about the future. Diabetes has brought many blessings into our lives. One of the most important of those blessings is the huge circle of loving, supportive, kind and thoughtful friends that it has introduced us to. We have found laughter, support and a great deal of love within the DOC. We try always to be a part of that and to offer the same in return to the good friends we have ‘met’. We are all in this together. We don’t judge, we don’t make assumptions, we don’t jump to conclusions, we don’t criticize. We give love, we give support, and we give friendship. I hope we all agree on that. I love you all, my friends and family. Thank you for your support!