Suggestions for getting a sassy teen to take care of herself

My Type 1 daughter is now a teen and her management has been suffering. A1C over 8.6 now. I swear she hits 400 every day. She boluses without testing all the time and is pretty careless about it. She refuses to wear her Dexcom G4. Says the sensor hurts. She didn’t complain about the old Dexcom being painful but didn’t wear it much.

I know this is all pretty common stuff. How do I motivate her? She is going to camp next week. I hope she gets interested in caring for herself again.

My ideas are:
1 Bribery.
2. A chart on the fridge
3. Taking away electronics.
4. Explaining what she already knows about consequences.
5. ???

I prefer to use positive reinforcements.

Pressure and nagging won’t help. Keep an eye on her but give her space. Teen years and diabetes can be hard without nagging from parents.

As a teen I wasn’t always getting A1C’s of 8.6, those would’ve been awesome, but I did take care of myself though ar times I’m sure my mom was terrifed. I drank, I did drugs, I took shots without really testing at times, guessed at carbs, and I tried to be a regular teen as much as possible. The times I didn’t take care of myself were the times my mom nagged me about testing, about my insulin doses, etc like she was the one who had to deal with it every second of everyday.

I was dx when I was 6 so I knew what I needed to do, when and why it was important. Having someone watching over my shoulder made me feel like I wasn’t being trusted, like I was a child and not able to care for myself, and that’s hard to deal with on top of all the crap that happens as a teen.

I knew a T1 who was dx the summer before we went into grade 7. During our teen years she went days, weeks, without taking her insulin, etc and that was stupid of her but she did it on purpose and this doesn’t sound like what your daughter is doing.

Keep an eye on her but without nagging or treating her like a kid, talk to her like she’s an adult to let her know you’re here if she needs to talk and that you just want her to be healthy while she navigates through the teen years.

That’s my advice having grown up with this and gone through the always dramatic and confusing teen years.

Natrie, thank you for the post. I returned to Type One Nation recently and was happy to find your wisdom. My son is 14 and we’re happy that he is only moderately disobedient in his self care.

Oh wow, it is nice to hear that we are not the only ones dealing with this issue! My daughter is 14, dx at 10. Her A1C is at 8.8 at the moment, down from 9.6, but I still worry that I’m not doing enough to help her. She doesn’t check her levels enough, or boluses without checking. She has been skipping lunch at school because she says it takes too long to check her levels and eat. She waits too long between site changes, and gets overly offended when I remind her to please take care of these simple things. Do I become so strict and overbearing that she simply cannot go out of range?? Or do I back off and let her figure things out, knowing that she may be damaging herself in the learning process? It is so hard to know what to do.

Any insight is much appreciated!

OMG I thought I was the only one going through this with my teen (14 yr old boy dx at 21 months.) I guess I need to let go of the reins a little and start " trusting him." It is really hard to let go because I am the one who has to go to the hospital with him and take care of him when he is sick. The puberty/ anger is rough, I am afraid him and my husband are going to go to blows. I am going to see about getting us some counseling on Monday. I can’t live like this anymore !

Yea I deal with a sassy teen too my daughter is 16 dx at 5 although I don’t fully understand what it’s like dealing with diabetes I do understand dealing with a disease in the fact that it is easier to deal with once it is accepted, my daughters numbers aren’t the greatest but having her understand that she will have have to deal with this disease for the rest of her life does make it easier for her to deal with it and her numbers have been getting better, thank god, and letting her be responsible for her disease and building that trust helps her and myself, it hasn’t been easy but it is getting better I hope my words help

I feel so comfortd already yet still v v worried. My son is 15 (16 in August) and was diagnosed with type 1 Sept 2012. I still feel relatively new to it all. Well he started off being really good about it all. V positive doing his own injections from the off. ( I have only ever done 1 injection for him) He was cc etc. Anyway in the last 4/5 months theres been a real dip. Much more carefree. As far as I am aware he doesnt skip injections, but he doesnt log his readings all the time and he eats what he wants in between meals without giving an extra shot. His hba1c in Dec was 9.4. So thats proof of a real deterioration.
I really dont know what to do. We have a good relationship which is crucial to me. I personally feel he is going through a resentful feeling towards his diabetes without infact admitting it to himself . He can be very defensive if for example I walk into the kitchen and see him eating “the wrong foods” during a snack. I do make a comment but should I raise my voice, take it away from him and bluntly say “do u want to damage your organs???” I dont behave like thatvat all. I have taken the approach that it is his diabetes and hes allowed to not get A*'s all the way through it and Im waiting/hoping this phase will go. He has huge pressure at his private sch to get A* and A grades for his gcses this May/June and diabetes pressure to correct numbers too. Sometimes its just all too much for us all.

Any thoughts are appreciated :slight_smile:

My 16 yr old daughter was dx at 18 months and the best advice I can give is T1D is a marathon not a sprint. Choose your battles because there will be plenty of times, as with any teenager, you prefer they make better choices. I’ve always told my daughter that T1D is something she has not who she is. Teenagers push boundaries and unfortunately just because they have T1D doesn’t make them automatically responsible. It’s just a lot harder for T1D parents because there is so much more at stake. My daughter has been driving since October and when she was given a little freedom with that she actually started showing more interest in maintaining good control.
Hang in there!!!

Thank you for all the insight. I try not to let t1d get in the way of a mother daughter relationship and these comments are helpful. I try to be supportive and step in when I think the time is right. Panicking does not help. While she thinks she can handle it all, I’m the back up plan. I review her bg online and sometimes we talk about what went right and what was not so right…