I often say that diabetes sits on the fault lines in our lives: If you're struggling with your relationship to food, diabetes makes it trickier to figure out how to eat.  If you’re challenged in asking for what you need from friends, diabetes adds extra pressure.  If you’re finding yourself in conflict with your spouse, diabetes sits right there.  In this week’s episode, Jessica comes on to the show to talk about the worries she has about where diabetes is sitting for her 7-year old: Grace is...

We all know that transitions can be hard for kids — and adding diabetes to the mix often makes them even trickier. On today’s episode I spoke about this with Kaylor Glassman, the founder of Diabetes Support Partners and a fellow diabetes coach whose opinion I really trust. Together, we thought about what’s going on for the 5 year old son of a listener who seems to be struggling with some separation anxiety. But the issue is confused because instead of it being a straightforward nervousness...

There are those shiny kids who know how to do diabetes and have been doing it for years, the kids who feel like diabetes actually makes them special.  But even these kids have rough patches when they don’t want to do the job anymore, when they feel like they don’t want to really be “out” with their diabetes. That’s what I’m talking about this week with Megan.  Megan’s son Henry — now 15, diagnosed at 7 and the oldest of four boys — has had a big shift in his diabetes behaviors.  Up till now,...

The oh-so-frequently forgotten siblings of our T1D kids!  In this week’s podcast episode, a concerned mom and dad come on together to think through what’s been happening with their 6-year old, in the aftermath of their 3 year-old’s relatively recent diagnosis.   The picture here is a bit complicated:  At first, this older brother was accepting and helpful, in the same way that older siblings often are when a new baby arrives in the house.  But as time went on — and the older brother...

If you’re looking at the data on diabetes management based on age, you see a big camel’s hump in the graph when you get to the teen and early 20s. At these ages, kids just don’t do as well with managing their T1D — and it shows in a1C outcomes.  The average a1C in this age range pops up to the mid 8s.  But even though that may be normal, it certainly doesn’t mean that we parents feel comfortable with it.   Cue my conversation for this week’s episode with Jo, mom of a 14-year old who was...

I loved the conversation I had for today’s podcast episode. It touched on a topic that no one has ever asked me about, even though I know it affects many of us: the difficult balance of managing work responsibilities while caring for a child diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. I’m talking with Nikki, a mother from the UK whose 6-year old daughter was diagnosed with T1D about a year a half ago.  As Nikki learned more and more about diabetes after her daughter’s diagnosis, she started to recognize...

In this week’s episode, I have a conversation with Mary, mother of a newly diagnosed little boy: Campbell was diagnosed about 6 months ago at two and a half.   Mary and her husband are getting the hang of diabetes but it’s been such a big learning curve that they’re thinking of postponing sending Campbell to preschool in the fall: Mary just can’t picture how a school transition would go.  The thought of entrusting her son’s care to someone else is understandably daunting. As we talk, we...

In today’s episode, I talk with Tiffany, a mother whose 9-year-old daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes only a few months ago. Tiffany opened with her primary concern: the limitations her daughter might face in the future. Even though she couldn’t picture exactly what those limitations would be she fears diabetes will hold her daughter back.  Tiffany’s worries are a mirror of what so many T1D parents feel—we worry about the hurdles our kids are going to face. It’s easy to get caught up...

In today’s latest episode, I answer a listener question that will resonate with most parents of T1D kids: the emotional and practical considerations of testing siblings for diabetes markers. The decision to test siblings for diabetes markers is one that many families, including my own, approach with trepidation. The anxiety surrounding this decision is understandable. No parent wants to even begin to imagine another child facing the same challenges as their type 1. And so the question...

Today’s show touches on a topic that’s close to many of our hearts—preparing our little ones for big life transitions. But as you know, when you’re the parent of a kiddo with type 1 diabetes, those transitions take on a whole new layer of planning and care. In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Rachel, a proactive mom who’s thinking months ahead about her son’s upcoming leap into kindergarten — and also about his horizon beyond.  As we delve into our conversation, we talk...

In today’s episode, I’m joined by Sveltana, a mother who’s navigating the bumps of diabetes management with her 9-year-old snowboarder and athlete. While we do spend some time strategizing management and I talk to this mom about questions she could put to her endo, we’re actually having an important conversation about the values that she might be choosing to center in a life with diabetes.   When we T1D parents talk about managing diabetes, it’s a delicate dance between maintaining tight...

I feel so lucky to have been part of the conversation that makes up this week’s episode.  My guest is Stacey Simms, herself a big name in the diabetes world, and the host of the Diabetes Connections podcast.  At one of her Mom’s Night Out events, she had told me that she had a question about her T1D son’s transition to college — and here she is to talk about it.  Stacey starts by naming a few different areas where she’s struggling as her son transitions to college and she transitions to his...

On today’s show, I welcome back Kaylor Glassman, founder of Diabetes Support Partners, to talk through a question from a listener. The question has to do with an 11 year old, who the parent feels isn’t being as responsible about diabetes management as mom thinks she should be.  Mom is concerned that this kiddo isn’t tracking the insulin in her pump, is allowing her pump to run out of charge, and is always surprised when the CGM expires. The parent is wondering how to get better cooperation...

Today’s mom has a wish to go away with her husband for a weekend — and leave her T1D son behind.  The grandparents have offered to take him for that weekend — they are more than happy to help — but mom is nervous, worried not just about her son’s numbers, but also about how asking for what she needs might impact her relationship with her in-laws. As we explore, we uncover that this mom has what I call “a beautiful fantasy,” that she gets to go away and have an actual vacation from diabetes,...

This week’s guest is a mom of a relatively newly diagnosed 10-year old girl.  Mom describes her daughter Maisie as having always struggled with some anxiety — but now that diabetes is in the mix, Maisie's anxiety is higher and more dramatic — and mom is at her wit’s end. Together, this mom and I dig into what she’s seeing with her daughter and come up with a few different strategies to help calm her very anxious daughter.  First, is to take as much responsibility for diabetes off of her...

Thanks for listening to Sweet Talk all year long! I’m closing 2023 with a recap of some of my top recommended episodes to tune into this holiday season. These episodes will serve you as you brace challenges with food, family, and friends during this season.  57: What To Do When People Have No Idea What Your Life is Like 37: When Family Doesn't Understand What It’s Like for You to Parent Type 1 36: When Feeding Your T1D Kid Causes Conflict in Your Relationship  14: Strategies for Managing the...

The mom who joins me this week — Michelle — doesn’t have a specific question; instead, she wants to face off with the broad challenge of how lonely it can be to have diabetes, both for her and her T1D daughter.  Ultimately, she’s bothered by the ways other people misunderstand what her daughter lives and struggles with.  She’s frustrated that people think her daughter has type 2, that they think she can’t eat certain things, and that they somehow think that the cause of diabetes is that her...

On today’s show, a mom joins me to talk about her nervousness about having a new driver — and to think through any issues that she should be on the lookout for because of diabetes. Mom is understandably anxious about her daughter starting to drive, but can also see that her daughter is pretty responsible about diabetes management.  That said, we looked at the reality of how (the California) DMV requires disclosure of diabetes and how mom might help navigate that process smoothly by getting a...

This remarkable grandmother came onto the show to get some support for her newly diagnosed grandson.  In the last few months, this 12-year-old boy — who was adopted by this family through the foster-care system — has been living with grandma.  She’s observed that the higher his blood sugar, the more volatile his moods are.  She notes that it’s hard to figure out how to keep him in range to help keep him emotionally steady.  Together we look at different ways this child — and his family — can...

This week, I’m honored to have Kaylor Glassman back on the show. As a reminder, I know Kaylor from DYF, the organization that runs camp in my neck of the woods in Northern California. She used to work there as the Director of Programs. Now, she’s started her own business called Diabetes Support Partners, which provides support to people in the first year after a T1D diagnosis.  Together, Kaylor and I are tackling a question that’s written in by a mom whose 10-year-old T1D son is trying to use...

As T1D parents, most — if not all — of us grapple with some pretty significant anxiety about keeping our kids safe. The parent on the show this week shares with us about how she’s fighting with that anxiety in the quest to get things right with diabetes.  Frankly, the parent has one of the hardest diabetes scenarios:  Her daughter, now four, was diagnosed at 13 months.  It’s extra scary to have a diagnosis with such a young child and, in my experience, parents who have those very early...

This week a mom came on the show to talk about her son who was diagnosed a little less than a month ago — but, amazingly, she didn’t have a question about him!  Instead, she wanted to think about her 5-year-old non-T1D daughter who had come to her, saying that she feels “left out” of the family since the diagnosis. I am so impressed that this mom not only had the bandwidth to think about her daughter’s needs but also to come onto the show. I know that when my son was a month from diagnosis, I...

This week, a mom joins me in a wide-ranging conversation about the way her son can get sassy — and be difficult to parent — when his blood sugar is high.  But before we ever got to that issue, we hit on a few other important topics. First of all, this brave mom talked about how dysregulated she gets when she is following diabetes all, all, all the time.  She shared that she’s made a practice of dis-connecting herself sometimes from the task of managing.  Since this kind of self-care is an...