Parents of Diabetic Children Learn to Manage Summer Outings

Parents of children with diabetes have a hard time leaving them alone. Often times the parents must be in the building or just a phone call away in case of low or high blood sugar. The learning curve of taking care of a child with diabetes is steep, and those who organize children’s outings are often not prepared to handle the intensive sampling schedule, or may not know what to do if one of a glucose readings is off.

Summer camps that are "mainstream" may be able to handle this type of situation with the right preparation. Karen Rodgers, a mother of a child with type 1 diabetes, found this out first hand.

"The first day of camp, we went over all of my daughter's needs and the contents of her medical bag. We also briefed the counselors on how to handle an emergency," said Rodgers. She was pleasantly surprised that the counselors asked questions and were attentive. "I also sent a chart that would be easily followed by people unfamiliar with diabetes," She continued. "It gives simple instructions for low, regular, and high blood glucose levels."

These would prove to be valuable. Her daughter did experience some blood sugar issues, but the camp kept her informed and the information Rodgers provided helped keep any small problems from becoming big ones.

Camps for Diabetic Kids

The American Diabetes Association has its own specialized camp for kids with diabetes. It is a specialized camp where kids can gain confidence in their management skills and gain experiences that they may not otherwise get because of traditional camp restrictions.

Best of all, they discover they are not alone. "The best thing about camp was that I realized that there are a lot of people just like me," said one happy camper who completed the program.

Sources:
http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/parents-and-kids/ada-camps/
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/parenting&id=8752768