I'm a new parent with Type 1. I was recently thinking about how I would explain my disease to my kids in the future. I was looking around and didn't see any books about explaining diabetes to kids that looked very appealing. I'm a graphic designer, so I thought it might be fun to make my own short illustrated book. I'd like some feedback if you all want to take a look at the spreads:
- There's one blank page and I'm still thinking of what visual I'd put there. Ideas?
- Is the story simple enough for kids to understand? How detailed do the rest of you get when explaining this to your kids? My twin girls are only 6 months old, so I have plenty of time, but I was thinking I'd introduce the book to them in a few years when they're old enough. Not sure of an exact target age.
- I have one page that shows an injection in the abdomen. My wife thinks that's a little creepy for a kids' book and I could have something else there. Maybe, but my thought is at some point the kids will see me doing that and it's part of the whole deal with having diabetes and taking injections, so why not show it? Thoughts?
I think you don't have to be too worried about showing an "injection" since it is a cartoon, and your kids (and probably their friends) will have seen you do shots many times before they read the book. I don't think little kids are stunned by much. Haha. I was dxd at age 7.
Maybe instead of showing an injection you can show the insulin being drawn up? And for the blank page you should put in a mention of insulin pumps!
As a parent I worried about how my son would come to understand my diabetes. It hasn't been a big deal. Your book is really neat, however your daughters will see you testing, taking shots, etc. and dealing with your diabetes will just be a normal part of life. My son is 5 now and I let him choose where I do my pump infusion site or pick which fingers I use for a blood test. He isn't troubled by what I do to myself, but he still freaks out if HE has to get an immunization or some other type of shot.
Haven't read it, but there's supposed to be a good book about being a diabetic parent called "When You're a Parent with Diabetes" by Kathryn Gregorio Palmer.
I love the idea of this book! I will soon be a 1st time parent and thought how I would one day explain to my child about my diabetes. I agree with Caitlyn that children will not understand what "insulin" is, so an explanation of that would probably be helpful. I also agree with Jenna that maybe you can illustrate the injection being drawn up instead of being administered. (I am only concerned with the image of an injection being administered because most children are very observant and if they should happen to see someone doing drugs, they might get confused or something - Heaven forbid that they should see this, but my 2 yr. old niece was almost exposed to this site when needing to use the bathroom at a park and a homeless junkie snuck into the women's bathroom to shoot up but luckily my sister was quick and pulled her daughter out of the bathroom before she could see what was happening and told her husband to take her to the men's bathroom instead - so u just never know...) Anyway, an image of a shot being injected in a children's book might make them believe all injections are good for you.
It might be a good opportunity to teach your child about healthy nutrition too. You could do a more detailed page about healthy eating to help control your sugars so that way your child can participate in healthy eating with you too. I know that my eating habits have motivated my husband's so together we like to think of healthy recipes and cook tasty & fun healthy meals together. It would be nice to be able to prepare fun & healthy meals with my child when he gets older too.