Teenagers Today's Health Advisory Panel Answers: What should I do about a diabetic teenager who is in denial about the disease and frequently has drinks and food that compromise his health?

By Chris Crutcher Author Licensed Child and Family Therapist

Question:

What should I do about a diabetic teenager who is in denial about the disease and frequently has drinks and food that compromise his health?

Answer:

This is a really tough problem. I'd monitor it as closely as possible and just say I was being "an overprotective parent, but that it kills me to let my son do physical damage to himself," all the time knowing that he's going to do some of it anyway. Reality is, he's going to have some physical reactions to eating the wrong things, and over a period of time, will be less able to stay in denial. There are natural consequences to everything.

The biggest problem here is that the consequences are about health. I would try to gauge how much my conversations with him got through (even if he gets irritated) and not go too far beyond that. In the end, we can do only what we can do – and jump down anyone's throat who is against stem cell research.