The White's

<<<In a message dated Sat, 11 Jan 2003 SandraDodd@... writes:

If we had made rules about when he had to be home and said "No, you can't go and visit your friend because you have to go to the dentist tomorrow" or if we had bugged him about whether he had set his alarm, or whatever all, he might be harboring some resentment (to say the least). And if we didn't give him a chance to show us that he COULD pull off a two-day schedule that complex, we wouldn't have the opportunity to have as much faith in him as we do.>>>>>

Dillon is an insulin dependant diabetic, has been since he was 15 months old. In the last year or so he has been going through alot of changes, some of which I've discussed here, that seem to be pre-adolescent stuff. It's hard to unschool taking care of his diabetes. I've always taken care of things for him, reminded him to check his blood sugars, etc. He's been on the pump for about 2 years (which is WONDERFUL, by the way) but in the last few months I have been struggling with him to remember to bolus (take insulin when he eats). He's begun going to a friend's house on occasion to sleep over and that Mom & I are friends, so she's fine with it. But the other day Dillon wanted to stay over when we were visiting and I had been talking about Dillon forgetting to take insulin, so the Mom told him that she would prefer to wait until Dillon's blood sugars, etc were okay. You can't blame her for being afraid something might happen. This was a great opportunity for Dillon to see the consequences of taking care of himself. When you're 10 thinking about kidney dialysis or loss of eyesight when you're older is just too hard. All kids feel indestructible, so no matter how often I remind him of those consequences, none worked quite as well as not being able to spend the night with a friend!!
He has been given more and more opportunity to take care of himself, but is not yet doing well enough for me to leave it be completely. He has a check up next week so we'll see what happens then.

<<<<It all developed gradually.>>>>

I hope gradually hurries up!!!!

Cindy





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