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I am a stay at home mom who is raising twins. One of my guys has type 1 diabetes and one does not. I am writing this blog to unite type 1 parents or twin parents. Comment on my posts or in the "what's your high?" and "what's your low?" to join the community of parents just trying to do the best we can!

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12/23/12

another stupid school party! grrr!

People with Type 1 diabetes can eat sugar. Sometimes, Type 1’s like Rocco even need a big hit of sugar when their blood sugar goes low.  But most times, eating fast-acting carbs like frosting, juice and candy spikes Rocco's blood sugar well beyond the normal range. If he doesn't exercise after eating these treats, like at a school party, his blood sugar will usually rise out of sight.

As you might gather, school holiday parties are just not my thing.

First, there was the Valentine's party last year. Click here to read how that went.

Then there was the Mother's Day party. Click here...

So, having twin with diabetes is challenging when it comes to school parties.

So this year, I finally listened to my friend, who also has a son with Type 1 diabetes. "I just don't give anyone a choice. I sign up to be the food mom for every party. Then I plan the menu and assign the snacks to each of the other moms."

She doesn’t care that she seems like a control freak, which has always been my worry. I never want to be the mom who requires that everyone else must cater to my requirementsMy brave friend doesn’t worry about these things. She jumps right in and does whatever it takes to care for her son. I was inspired by this, so decided to do the same for this year’s school Christmas, opps! I mean holiday, party. I signed up to be the food mom, planned the menu, assigned healthy snacks to the other moms and assigned myself to bring the sweet treats, so I would know ahead of time exactly how many carbs were in each treat!

Here are the two things I brought.

I know! Cute, right?

Each of these snacks has only 10 carbs. These snacks are peanut-free (we have two peanut allergy kids), politically correct and low carb! Go me!

To the other mothers, I assigned fruit kabobs (10 carbs), cheese and crackers (10 carbs), a veggie tray (0 carbs), and mini waters (0 carbs – no 24 carb Capri Suns). I know, it seems lame, but I had to do what I had to doThe Capri Suns could wait until the kids get home.

So, the total for everything on the table was about 40 carbs per kid if they took one each! Yay! I felt so proud. 

As the party started, I looked over the food table as I did my calculations. Yep, everything was right on track! I was so excited, I decided to tell Rocco, "Hey! You can have one of everything on the table!"

He got the biggest smile on his face then said, "YES!"

Then he got so excited he told his best friend, "I can have one of everything on the table!"

His best friend said, "YES!" and they high fived! It was sweet. He has nice friends.

I was feeling proud of myself until one of the momswho came late and had never answered any of my emailsadded these to the table!


Plus juice and a bag of pretzels!

Um, helllooo mystery mom who never reads her emails! Do you not understand that I am trying to raise a kid here who shouldn't eat your high carb, fast acting treats? know I am being mean and I am sure she had no idea what she had done, but I was so excited to have it be just right and in one fell swoop, it was ruined! Grrrr!!! 

felt deflated as I looked over at Rocco. He was having so much fun. I brought him aside and asked him if we could make a plate with the original snacks and bring the super-sugary treats home to have later.Tears welled up in his eyes and he said, "But you said I could have one of everything on the table..." I was suddenly realized he was genuinely going to start to cry in front of all of his friends. 

So....I caved. "All right. Go ahead." 

This, of course, pleased him no end and he ran off to play the next game.

While he was playing though, I got mad. I grabbed a plastic knife and cut the pieces of that chocolate cake into the smallest slivers you have ever seen! Was that appropriate? No! Was it fair to all the other kids? No! But I didn't care! They can have all the sugar they want later.


Nobody ever said that a mama bear had be polite while protecting her cubs! 


In the long run, I am not sure anyone noticed my secret attempts at a fun but low-carb party. None of the kids ever did complain about the size of the cake
 servingsBut one little boy did keep coming back and asking for more fruit kabobs. Ha ha!

As for Rocco, at one point I looked over and saw him happily eating two treats at the same time.

He had a good time, although his blood sugars ran from 300 to 400 for several hours. Ugh..


Look at these cool ideas! Hope I remember them for next year! 







Ok moms tell me, please. How did you handle these stupid parties with your kids? I would love some advice because I have two more parties this year! Help! Please, leave it in the comment section below. 

8 comments:

Lacy said...

:( because people at my son's preschool have to signup ahead of time. I take the list, decide what Rudy isn't allergic to, count carbs, make a detailed list of portion sizes and carb counts for his plate and then spend a ridiculous amount of time going over it with his teachers. last week, I got sicker than I have ever been in my life with the flu. I was a terrible mom and didn't have the energy to do it. so, I kept him home that day. .... I know... it was wrong .. but I had no choice.

Unknown said...

I hear you Shari. Luckily, the parties at my daughter's school normally involve water as a drink, so that's good. If there is a cupcake, my daughter knows to scrape frosting. We usually are dealing with a high afterwards of course, but I just am thankful for the water, and thankful that these parties are not too often :)

Teri said...

ugh...so annoying!! all your prep time then someone just ruins it,,and they just dont get it that now your kid has 300-400 numbers.. Not looking forward to that next year when my daughter starts kinder.

Pam said...

Hey Shari, my five year old boy/girl twins aren't diabetic and I don't think anyone else in their classes are either but, in honour of everything you have taught me while reading your Facebook and blog about blood sugars etc, my guys were just about the only kids in the class without sugary candy canes taped into their Christmas cards this year. Who needs the extra sugar right, diabetic or not? Instead they had a tiny tub of Playdoh taped to the outsides of the card instead. You'd be surprised at the number of parents and kids who actually preferred that. Cost me a fortune to do it x 60 for both Kindy classes vs $2 for 20 candy canes but so worth it. Thank you for the inspiration.
Oh, and as a mother of a daughter with a lactose intolerance I often become a complete helicopter parent and take over party food menus with Vegemite sandwiches, cucumber, carrot and red capsicum sticks in a little bag and a mixture of fruit in another bag. And always water to drink. Loving the idea of fruit kebabs. You go girl!!! Merry Christmas. Pam

Type1teenager said...

i personally was allowed to eat what i wanted except the sugary drinks and that was on mixtard (the 2 injections a day strict diet regime) emphasis growing up was always on being allowed to grow up not resenting the diabetes and im here 15 years later with no complications. now i do the same i eat a load of chocolate and do the best i can with carb counts and if i go high i go high i correct later. grand scheme of things a few high sugars arent gonna matter since i keep the best control i can the rest of the time

Kendra said...

I send my kiddo to school with bacon and a sugar free hansens rootbeer. Yup. The other kids are usually jealous. She ends up happy. Weird and wrong, maybe...buy it works for us.

Kendra said...

I send my kiddo to school with bacon and a sugar free hansens rootbeer. Yup. The other kids are usually jealous. She ends up happy. Weird and wrong, maybe...buy it works for us.

Unknown said...

I'm mother of twins too one with diabetes one without ( I feel your pain lol). School parties are so tough!!! I think you did great!!! No one with truly ever understand unless it were their child♥