Type 1 Diabetes: Resources for Parents, Teenagers and Children
Diabetes can be a difficult condition for children and teenagers to understand. They will want to make sense of why they have to do things differently to their friends and come to terms with its impact on their lives.
There are a number of practical aspects to managing Type 1 diabetes that means it is essential that they know about their diabetes and how it affects their body. It is also an extremely complicated area for parents to negotiate and get the support and information they need. Thankfully, there are a number of fantastic resources available to parents, helping you to know the condition, how to manage it and talk to your children about it. There are also some excellent interactive sites aimed specifically at children and teenagers. At Your Life Protected, we specialise in diabetes life insurance and constantly interact with the charities doing amazing work to improve understanding of the condition. We decided to bring together all of these resources in one convenient PDF so that you can easily select the most relevant information and resources on Type 1 Diabetes.
If you don’t fancy viewing the complete guide, you can choose the area that’s of interest to you below, or scroll down to view our list of useful resources for all.
Diabetes Resources for All
1. Diabetes and Parenting from Diabetes.co.uk
Full of fantastic resources covering the essentials like how to manage your child’s diabetes and a guide to negotiating the emotional aspects of the condition. It also has free recipe books, diet guides and advice on how to test your blood glucose. Their forum is a great place to ask questions to other parents that have experienced many of the things that you are going through. There are over 74,000 users.
2. Children and Diabetes from Diabetes.org.uk
Broken down into logical sections, this site covers everything you need to know about diabetes and your child. The support message board is a great place to get in depth practical information and support from those who know best and also ask any questions you may have.
3. Type 1 Diabetes School Pack activity plans
A great website chock full of resources on Type One diabetes. It is particularly good at preparing your child and their teachers for managing T1 diabetes at school. The information is helpfully divided into Primary and Secondary school ages by JDRF:
4. Diabetes and Children Overview from the NHS
The NHS site has tools on how to plan meals and is useful for helping you plan daily routines with your child.
5. Diabetes Overview from the BBC
A simple overview from the BBC with some good diagrams.
6. Guide to Type 1 Diabetes from NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence)
This downloadable PDF looks at the diagnosis and management of Type 1 diabetes from a clinical perspective.
7. The Nuts & Bolts of Carb Cunting from Diabetes UK
All you need to know about carb counting and insulin in a thorough, easy to understand and downloadable PDF including a guide on how to calculate your Insulin to carbohydrate ratio (ICR).
8. Insulin Pumps and Children from Input Diabetes
A comprehensive free to download PDF guide to insulin pumps with a fantastic accompanying glossary covering all key terms. It focusses on insulin pumps and features tips on school, exercise and much more.
Reddit is a social media platform where you can ask questions, post useful links and interact with specific communities in what are called SubReddits. The Diabetes Subreddit is a very active section of the site – you can ask questions about any aspect of the condition and get answers from people living with diabetes or with diabetic children. There is also a Diabetes Chat Room based on the Diabetes subreddit.
Diabetes Resources for Teenagers
1. Diabetes.co.uk – Teenagers & Diabetes
A series of guides covering everything from University life, going on nights out and insulin pumps.
2. Diabetes.org – My Life Teens
Full of information and others sharing their stories. There is also a section that allows you to ask a nurse any questions you may have. It has tips on injecting, testing, exams and relationships.
3. The Highs and the Lows for a teenwith Type 1 Diabetes– JDRF Teens
A useful Blog from an 18 year old with Type 1.
Diabetes Resources for Children
Below are a list of resources we have pulled together specifically for children with Type 1 Diabetes.
1. Diabetes.org.uk – Homepage for Kids Resources featuring:
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- Tadpole Times Magazine – A magazine for children covering all of the topics around Type 1 Diabetes with lots of fun features including Joke of the Day.
- Ask Libby – Problem Page – Simple form to fill out with any questions your son or daughter might have on any aspect of diabetes.
- Fun Platform Game – A game where you collect healthy snacks and participate in sports.
2. Diabetes.co.uk Children and Diabetes
The site features a wealth of information surrounding Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes in children.
3. JDRF Type 1 Charity:
4. YouTube videos for children relating to type 1 Diabetes
Go back to view our Resources for All
View Resources for Teenagers