Behavior and Diabetes....

Have you ever noticed your child having overly obnoxious behavior as in being more whiny then normal? Perhaps throwing a tantrum over something you think is very silly. How about lashing out with rude words and phrases at you and siblings? Well this sort of behavior is normal for kids of all ages with or without D.

However there are times I can tell Cliffy is either high or low based on his behavior alone. When he's high, he tends to be more whiny, more easy to throw a temper tantrum, especially over nothing at all. He is more grumpy, and crabby when he's high as well. Besides having a high blood sugar is no fun at all, you get a headache and feel down right icky, and worn out. When he's lower he has overly obnoxious behavior and tends to be downright rude and disrespectful.

But like with everything else D related I don't let Clifford use his diabetes as an excuse to be bad. He's a smart kid and if I started letting him do that he would act up and blame it on D all the time. I've had many talks with him that start either with, "Go test yourself, then we'll talk", or "Just because your (low/high) doesn't give you the right to act up. Trying having that convo in public around others. "Just because your high doesn't mean you can act like that to me"... The looks are priceless.

I fully understand some of these behaviors are increased in intensity due to blood sugar's. However I do not let him use it as an excuse. It goes with he can do whatever he sets his mind to D or not. I want him to feel like a normal kid, and we talk about the actions and how he doesn't get a free ticket to being disrespectful.