Have any of you ever put your kids in counseling?

[zell828]

My SD is 8 years old. She is doing fairly well and adapting, but I wonder if it would benefit her more to have someone else to talk to.

What is everyone's feelings on this and what have you done or think?

[Lee]

If she is doing well, I don't think I would. It would make her think something is wrong. We did family counseling after the divorce for a year. Did it help - nope - neither of my kids got much out of it ~ but I think that was becuase neither of them were to messed up.

I think I would just foster open communication. Reinforce that she can come talk to you about anything ~ mom, dad, brother, school, boys, diabetes, anything...

[momtojess]

Jess is only 6. We get to see a social worker at our appts once a year. The social worker usually talks to Jess too and asks if she has questions etc.

I dont think i would do counseling unless you start to notice problems.

[ilesha]

We actually just started this. Josh was having a really tough time adapting and not wanting to go to school and it was a big struggle. The CDE at UMass gave us a therapist right there within the diabetes practice so he has alot of experience dealing with children that just received a dx.

We've only had one appt with him and he said what josh was doing was pretty normal but he hasn't had any appt with just josh yet either.

i suffer from bi-polar disorder myself and i do see benifits to therapy. but that's just my opinion on it. it can't make things worse.

[Thoover]

WE never have had any problems. Would I see counseling if we start seeing problems like Britt not wanting to take her insulin to survive, of course then I would have to step in for her own safety. However if she is showing no signs of the not caring for D, then I wouldn't put her through the therapist thing. Some kids are ok and open to talk to anyone and some just won't talk at all.

[danismom79]

I considered it at diagnosis, but my daughter adapted way more than I ever imagined she would. I'd still like to find a support group, or even just a play group for her. There's 1 girl at her school with D, but she's in a lower grade so they don't see each other often. We don't know anyone else.

[MamaChrissa]

Catie (J's twin) and I entered therapy soon after his DX. He handled things like a champ...the 2 of us were devastated though. :confused: Its really helped! Id say give it a try! It couldn't hurt...but it could help!

[toohughey]

I decided to take my DD to counciling when I noted that she was crying alot and it was not because of BG mood swings. She was 8 and was dx'ed for a year.

It turned out she was afraid she was going to die and there was no way for her to express that to her already worried parental units. She opened up to the therapist and then found a way to open up to us.

I also learned how to be receptive to her fears and feelings as well. I feel like we have a much more open relationship now.

I would say that if your mommy radar gets tingly and you feel like she is holding back feelings or her anger is not expressed, try counseling, it can't hurt.

TRACY

[jendean]

I think counseling is almost always a good thing... Unless it is done with the idea that you will "find" a problem.

[kyleesmom]

A psychiatrist/psychologist(not sure which one he is) comes in to see Kylee at her endo appointments. He talks to her for a few minutes, asks if she is having any problems at school or home, if she is adjusting well, that type of stuff and always gives her his card and says she can call him any time.

We try to keep everything about D open and honest and let Kylee know that if she has a question or is worried, she can come to us about it and we will tell her the truth. So far that has worked for us.

[Kaylee's Mommy]

I have seriously considered it for Kaylee, with the second dx of celiac she's having a very very hard time.. she tells me all the time that her life keeps getting harder.. the poor kid is only 5.5 years old! we're going to see how she's doing in the next few weeks and then decide if she needs to go let out her frustrations and talk to someone else besides mommy and daddy..

[Lee]

I have seriously considered it for Kaylee, with the second dx of celiac she's having a very very hard time.. she tells me all the time that her life keeps getting harder.. the poor kid is only 5.5 years old! we're going to see how she's doing in the next few weeks and then decide if she needs to go let out her frustrations and talk to someone else besides mommy and daddy..

I think that Kaylee is showing frustration and anger at her diagnosis, and getting her in to talk to someone would be a great thing for her.

[zell828]

My SD is very quiet and shy and tends to kind of ignore issues or pretend they don't exist. While she's handling doing poking, taking shots, etc. real mature and good, I just wonder if she has issues bottled inside. For their age you just never know if they quite understand Diabetes or what is happening to them. While she talks to us parents fine, it still worries me at times if she tells us EVERYTHING.

[jcanolson]

I have seriously considered it for Kaylee, with the second dx of celiac she's having a very very hard time.. she tells me all the time that her life keeps getting harder.. the poor kid is only 5.5 years old! we're going to see how she's doing in the next few weeks and then decide if she needs to go let out her frustrations and talk to someone else besides mommy and daddy..

We're going through the same thing with celiac. Nat will be 6 in Sept. She doesn't seem to let all the food restrictions get to her. We try to keep everything focused on what she can still have instead of what she can't, but I can't help but wonder what goes on in that little head - especially at b-day parties when she is sitting with her cupcake. I've considered counseling, but so far, she doesn't seem to think it's a big deal so I don't want to turn it into a big deal.
The great thing about kids is that they are so adaptable. They are worried about now and this week-end. It's the parents who need counseling because we're not only worried about now, we are also worried about 20 years from now.

[zell828]

We're going through the same thing with celiac. Nat will be 6 in Sept. She doesn't seem to let all the food restrictions get to her. We try to keep everything focused on what she can still have instead of what she can't, but I can't help but wonder what goes on in that little head - especially at b-day parties when she is sitting with her cupcake. I've considered counseling, but so far, she doesn't seem to think it's a big deal so I don't want to turn it into a big deal.
The great thing about kids is that they are so adaptable. They are worried about now and this week-end. It's the parents who need counseling because we're not only worried about now, we are also worried about 20 years from now.

Very good point. I think parents look at the future too and plus we all have our own life experiences that we don't want our kids to go through.

[Melaniec]

As i psychologist i would really recomend counselling for your child if you think that they might be struggling. I do agree that we want to normalise it as much as possible but i think we should acknowledge the difficulties that our children may face too and let them feel free to talk about it. As my gorgeous boy is still only young we haven't yet had too many problems, kids seem to just be really interested in his pump and diabetes etc, however i do worry about teasing etc when he is older, and would definietely encourage him to talk to someone if he needed to. As someone mentioned earlier, children can be afraid to talk to their parents just because they don't want to worry them any more than they already may be!

Another point i thought i might mention is that this forum is a really good form of "therapy" for us parents, either by writing a thread or just reading through others. I know how helpful i find it and would readily want my son to be able to access anything that would help him cope with any issues/questions he may be having.

Anyway, i hope that makes sense - not much sleep last night!!