Self Esteem

Our biggest hesitation in starting the pump was having a way to tell that Amy was different just by looking at her.  When you are on needles, you look just like everyone else.  You blend in.  Yes, we made sure that everyone at her school knew who she was, and that she had T1D, but you couldn't tell that just by looking at her.

We struggled with that a little bit.  We thought about when she gets older.  How fitting in with your peers is so important.  We thought about how bullying still happens even with all the awareness campaigns.  We thought about how much easier bullying is with the advent of social media.  And we thought about extreme examples of bullying that resulted in the recent suicides of both Amanda Todd and Rehtaeh Parsons.

After all that, we felt that the benefits of pumping far outweighs the negative impacts it may have.  We are hoping that we can raise a confident, self assured child (and eventually teenager) despite the obstacles that diabetes may place in front of her.

To hear Amy talk about her diabetes, to see how far she has come, how much she has learned, and to hear her explain to others in school what T1D is, and how she manages it, makes my heart swell with pride, and break at the same time.

It hurts me when she says that she doesn't want people who don't know her to ask what is around her waist.  Or that kids are telling her she's not allowed to eat or drink on the bus, or that she doesn't want to be the only one who has an afternoon snack, or that she feels stupid because the buses are being held up for her to ensure that her BG has come back up to safe levels before going home.  That she doesn't want to be singled out.

We are working on it, we roll play a little with educational and positive things she can say about what and why she is able to do some of these things when others can't.  We talk about when she gets older and how she may feel.  I know that at age 7, she still has a long way to go, but I'm hoping that by preparing her early she will be more comfortable with everything, diabetes included, that makes her who she is.

What made me think about self esteem today was reading posts on Facebook and in the news about A tween clothing giant and their CEO.  Apparently comments were made years ago, but are being dredged to the surface again.  Essentially they say that they don't make clothing for overweight people because they are targeting the "cool people".  There are a number of articles and the actual comments out there and I also came across a great rebuttal to The CEO that touted him the King of Bullies.

[added May 10/13 @ 11am AST. Check out this response.  I wanted to stand up and clap!]


How do you handle your or your child's feelings of being different because of diabetes? And have you/them been bullied because of it?

Peanut Butter Cookies

When Amy was first diagnosed with diabetes, my best friend, who lives in Nova Scotia, sent me a cookbook that she thought would help us.  It was Canada's Best Cookbook for Kids with Diabetes.

I've browsed through it a number of times.  Truth be told, I browse through cookbooks a lot, so it was a real gift from the heart from my friend.

Last night was the first time that I've made anything from this cookbook.  Before the pump, I found that the recipes sounded good, especially the treats, but still went above the number of carbs that I would typically give for a snack.

I've been thinking about peanut butter cookies for days, and decided to see if there was anything that sounded good in this book.  I read the recipe, liked what I saw and gathered the ingredients.

I thought of replacing either the white sugar or the brown sugar with a sugar substitute, but decided to follow the recipe......almost.  I didn't have quite enough stick margarine, so I used what I had and added a bit of extra peanut butter, and I substitute half the flour for whole wheat.

The cookies were amazing.

When I make them again, I think I will cook them for a little less time, then I did this time.  I was going to take them out at 8 mins, but left them in for another 2.  Still yummy.  Especially with a big glass of milk!

The recipe:

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup soft margarine
1 large egg
2/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla

preheat oven to 350F
1. combine dry ingredients
2. beat margarine, sugars until fluffy, add rest of wet ingredients.
3. add together and mix until blended
4. roll dough into 36 small balls, flatten with fork.
5.bake 10-12 mins until lightly browned

1/2 carb, 1 fat

80 calories
2g protein
4g fat
1g sat fat
9g carbs
0g fiber
6mg cholesterol
72mg sodium

Give them a try and let me know what you think.  Also, if you have any great baking recipes that you would like to share, I'd love to hear about them.

HAPPY BAKING!