Many things ran through our minds as we sat in hospital during diagnosis: “Will Mason be allowed to go back to preschool ? How do we monitor his blood sugar while he is in school? How will we manage with insulin injections? How do we prepare for low or high blood sugars, or emergencies?”

It was a nail-biting week as we awaited the school’s decision. We were very much relieved when the principal and teachers agreed to meet with us to learn more about Mason’s condition and how to incoporate that into his school schedule. We were supported by Mason’s wonderful teacher who chose to continue with him through playgroup, pre nursery and nursery , which made it easier for us to not have to continually retrain teachers every year. We used CGM technology to monitor his blood sugar levels remotely . We prepared basic charts/algorithms to guide teachers in treating low or high blood sugars, but we still communicated with the teachers daily on doses necessary for lunch or snack time. Eventually, Mason’s teachers became competent in giving injections, doing fingerpricks and when he transitioned to pump therapy – they even learnt how to set temporary basal profiles! This would not have been possible without the dedication and support of the school and staff and we count ourselves very fortunate! It takes a village to raise a T1D child!

However, things may not be as smooth sailing for primary school going kids as the Ministry of Education has a policy that prevents school teachers from administering medications (including insulin) to students. As parents we can only hope that the silver lining of being diagnosed younger means we have more runway to train Mason to manage his diabetes with remote guidance when the time comes.