Each age and stage of life has a different set of challenges. A chronic disorder brings additional challenges. It might seem
that as soon as your family has found ways to negotiate the rocky course of one stage of development, the next stage has arrived. For
example, parenting an infant or toddler can be much different from parenting a school-aged child. Likewise, being a teenager
with diabetes is different from being 9 or 10 and living with the disorder. As teenagers reach adulthood, they are faced with
new issues that further affect their diabetes care.
Your family and the diabetes team can both help smooth your child’s road to adulthood by helping your child develop a strong
sense of identity and self-worth. The best way of predicting future behaviour is by looking at past behaviour. A child whose
course has been relatively smooth throughout early childhood is quite likely to get through adolescence successfully. Also,
families that provide support and guidance related to their child’s age will probably have fewer issues to deal with during
the teen years.
