Everyone was sick. We took turns. No getting it all over at the same time. And as a Lupus mom I do need to warn you this post is coming from a very unrested mom, which is her own fault for doing too much...
But it's time for a valuable parenting lesson.
Take a deep breath. It's going to be hard...remember we were there once too.
We all know it, parenting is not for the faint of heart. We fail our kids. Our kids fail us. It feels like we get no where, but we must because the majority of us are productive & decent members of society.
So this is what our family learned. After dealing with continued high blood sugars after being sick, I decided to check the sweet teenager's blood sugars because she seemed a little off. Those who know someone with Diabetes knows the look. It's kind of a Hulk look. Like right before the gentle doctor changes. We call it Sunny smash. What I found broke my heart. She had missed too many checks. It was too high too even register. A reminder of how vigilant those with Diabetes must be.
We are at the point when it's time to let go a little, help her learn to take responsibility for her health.
It's hard.
It's days like this that I'm thankful for Lupus. I really could have yelled, taken away her phone, grounded her for life. But I remember how hard as a teen it is to have your life controlled by your illness. Take your meds, where's your hat, do you have sunscreen, you can't go out during the day. It sucked. Sorry, there's really no nice way to say it. At times I rebelled, four trips to the tanning bed began a flare with kidney disease.
This is hard stuff...with real consequences. When you are parenting a teen the choices they make and the choices we make in guiding them have real hard consequences.
So what did we do when we found out that letting go isn't as easy as we'd thought. We hugged her, said we'll try again, be a more vigilant, bug her a little more.
She's growing up, learning to make her own hard choices. And after a week she's got a better handle on her blood sugar. She even gained a new kind of freedom. She drove her self for the first time. This Lupus mom was exhausted, but oh so excited when she realized her teen could now drive herself. Just a little confession this said mom may have also ran around the house looking out every window and maybe on to the front porch to watch her daughter's well deserved taste of freedom.
Don't worry this was taken during her first time driving home. She's a much better driver now!
Remember we were there, take a deep breath, it's gonna be hard.
