Your Emotions
You can play a significant role in the life of your loved one. Your emotional support can make a difference, in terms of the success rate they will have in managing diabetes.
While it may sometimes be difficult, your positive attitude and continued encouragement will give your loved one the confidence they need to make healthy decisions.
Your healthy emotional support can come in a variety of forms.
They can include:
- Listening
- Encouraging
- Giving Advice
- Reinforcing Positive Challenges
No matter how you choose to support your loved one, remember to keep a positive attitude. Try not to be critical, but rather supportive.
Family Emotional Support
One way to preserve family closeness and support is to provide time for each individual. Either through having family game night, a dinner, or reading together before bed, sharing time is essential. Another way to provide support is through scheduling family meetings. Family meetings are a time for clarifying and prioritizing needs and goals. During this time, you can also address problems that need to be solved and outline responsibilities, consequences, rewards, and desired outcomes of each family member. For your family, it is especially important to communicate regularly, because diabetes brings more responsibility to each member.
