Back to School with my Smarties!

Well my "Smarties" are back in school now....and for one of them, her school supply box includes more than pencils and glue sticks.  It includes SMARTIES!

Back to school means:

....shopping for new clothes!

..... trying on new shoes!

....labeling school supplies.

...meeting your new teacher and making new friends!

 But for Ally, Back to School means much more:

 ...carefully planning her visits to the clinic for blood sugar checks around her new schedule.

...shopping for supplies - the emergency diabetes kit kind (Juicy Juice boxes, glucose tablets, extra test strips, extra blood glucose meter,  alcohol wipes, extra batteries, syringes,  an extra Glucagon, glucose gel, etc.)

...planning school lunches and preparing carbohydrate counts for them.

...educating new teachers and staff to recognize high and low blood sugar symptoms.

...training for emergency Glucagon administration.

Lucky for me, I am not alone.  I have found several other Parents of Children With Diabetes, who have shared their Back to School ideas and resources.

You may have noticed a new look here at Life is Like a Box of Chocolates.  Did you also notice those cute Hugs n Kisses Pals on the right?  I have listed several of the other blogging parents of children with Type 1 Diabetes on my Blogroll.  (If you don't see your name, please comment here, I'd love to add you!)

Some of the most helpful back to school ideas came to me from Beta Buddies, who shared all of her homemade documents for "Taking D to School."  I also have read, and re-read Sugar's 504 Plan at Candy Hearts.

Heidi at D-Tales shared a fantastic letter that she shares with the families of all of her T1 son's classmates at the beginning of each school year.  I used this as a template for creating our own letter to Ally's classmates and their families.  After reading a book to the class and speaking with the second graders about diabetes, I sent the letter home.  I had so many people - some whom I had never met before - stop me at Open House and tell me how great the letter was and that they really appreciated the information.  Check out Heidi's letter here. 

I have listed these and other "Taking Diabetes to School" links under another tab on my "new and improved" website.  Check out Educate Me About Type 1 D on the tab above.  (If you have written about your great idea for "Taking Diabetes to School", please feel free to share a link in my comments and I will add you to my list of resources.)

I realize that everyone is probably back in school by now.  But I wanted to introduce you to my new "tabs."  Also, the sad truth is that there may be someone new to the "Parents of D" group any time, as so many more children are diagnosed each day.  I Hope I can be as resourceful to them as so many of you have been to me!