Washing It Away: A 3-Year-Old’s Take on Diabetes

Last week while I was giving my 3-year-old son, Adam, a bath, he took his green plastic cup and began to pour water onto my hands. Several times he refilled the cup and poured. Then he said, “I’m washing the diabetes.”

I had one of those moments when I had to fight hard to hold back my tears and yet I was laughing, too. A classic bittersweet moment.

Diabetes conversations are a regular thing in our home, and so I know Adam is aware of diabetes. But I didn’t know what it meant to him or how he interpreted it. For the most part, I do my diabetes care in private. It’s not that I’m trying to hide diabetes from my children. It’s more of a feeling that I want to protect them from it. I don’t want them to think about it all of the time. I don’t want them to worry. Of course, there are times when I have to check my blood sugar in front of my children, and when I do, I don’t make a big deal about it.

Adam and I are having a lot of quality one-on-one time now, since his nursery school is on vacation and the big boys are in day camp. Getting any work done is impossible, so rather than having Adam write a guest blog for me, I decided to interview him about diabetes. I think you’ll agree with me, his answers are pretty spot on. (And, yes, Adam does call his father Mikey.)

Who has diabetes? Mikey and Mama

What is diabetes? Not good.

What do you do when you have diabetes? You have to check them. Then you get something and eat it.

Do you know what that is (pointing at Mike’s pump)? That’s diabetes.

What does it do? It makes dots on Mikey.

What does Mikey eat? Dinner, but not granola.

What does Mama eat? Broccoli and cauliflower

What does Mikey eat for dessert? Dinner

What does Mikey do on his fingers? Dots

What does Mama do on her fingers? Dots

Jessica Apple

Jessica Apple grew up in Houston. She studied Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, and completed an MA in the same field at the Hebrew University. She began to write and publish short stories while a student, and has continued to write essays and fiction while raising her three sons (and many pets).

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Jessica Apple

Jessica Apple grew up in Houston. She studied Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, and completed an MA in the same field at the Hebrew University. She began to write and publish short stories while a student, and continues to write essays and fiction while raising her three sons (and many pets). Jessica’s work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Financial Times Magazine, The Southern Review, The Bellevue Literary Review, Tablet Magazine, and elsewhere. She is the diabetes correspondent for The Faster Times. In 2009 she and her husband, both type 1 diabetics, founded A Sweet Life, where she serves as editor-in-chief. Jessica loves spending time with her sons, cooking with her husband, playing with her cats, reading, biking, drinking coffee, and whenever possible, taking a nap. Follow Jessica on Twitter (@jessapple)