Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ‘EDUCATE’ this teacher?

342 replies

Misinformation · 05/09/2023 16:03

DS has Type 1 diabetes. He has to put up with stupid comments like ‘did you eat too much sugar’ regularly.

At school today, a boy asked him this. Teacher nearby started telling him what Type 1 is and he asked if anyone could get it and could you get it randomly.

Teacher said No which DS was quite pissed of about as it seems to imply he’s done something to get it or it’s in his genes (it’s not). He’s not the type to correct a teacher so I think I should?

Quite annoyed as if you’re going to educate someone, do it correctly!

OP posts:
Bluevelvetsofa · 05/09/2023 16:20

I think people are generally aware that type 1 diabetes requires very careful monitoring/ injections/ careful diet, but perhaps don’t know what happens to cause the imbalance.

Maybe you could explain how/why it occurs, how it has to be managed and stress that it’s not anything your son has done ‘wrong’. Perhaps they’re getting confused with type 2, which does have lifestyle implications.

ActDottie · 05/09/2023 16:24

To me it sounds like the kid was asking can he get it like you get a cold and the teacher said no to this.

Carebearstare12e · 05/09/2023 16:26

ActDottie · 05/09/2023 16:24

To me it sounds like the kid was asking can he get it like you get a cold and the teacher said no to this.

That was my thought.

Sprogonthetyne · 05/09/2023 16:27

Is it possible that the teacher was trying to stop the other kid thinking or suggesting that it could be caught from your DS?

TheLongGloriesOfTheWinterMoon · 05/09/2023 16:33

Sprogonthetyne · 05/09/2023 16:27

Is it possible that the teacher was trying to stop the other kid thinking or suggesting that it could be caught from your DS?

Agreed.

CurlewKate · 05/09/2023 16:36

That's how I hear that too. But nothing wrong with making sure the teacher understands and there aren't any misconceptions.

WhateverMate · 05/09/2023 16:36

Seems very probable that the pupil's question was more to do with 'is it contagious'?

How old is your child and what do you mean by he's 'not the type to correct a teacher'?

If he'd spoken to the teacher about it, there wouldn't be this confusion.

CurlewKate · 05/09/2023 16:39

Also-you didn't actually hear what was said, so maybe go easy at first. If it's a primary school could you and your ds do a little talk to the class about it? I'm only suggesting this because a girl did this when my ds was in year 3, and he still remembers what he learnt now.

YourNameGoesHere · 05/09/2023 16:42

Sprogonthetyne · 05/09/2023 16:27

Is it possible that the teacher was trying to stop the other kid thinking or suggesting that it could be caught from your DS?

That's exactly how it came across to me too. I get you what to defend your child but honestly this sounds like a misunderstanding not anything malicious.

Mariposista · 05/09/2023 16:47

This sounds like a bit of an oversensitive reaction.

Physicstruck · 05/09/2023 16:48

I hear it like the others

Bromptotoo · 05/09/2023 16:49

@Misinformation how old is your son?

I suspect a lot of people know little of diabetes, T1 v T2 etc. My general knowledge is pretty good and I read voraciously. I only really got it after experiencing its effects from a colleague with whom I'm a close friend whose son is T1 and ADHD etc and had massive issues at Senior School.

Working on Welfare Benefits has filled in more detail but I'm still learning.

mathanxiety · 05/09/2023 16:51

I think you've got the wrong end of the stick here.

It sounds to me as if the teacher was assuring the other child that he couldn't catch it like a cold or chicken pox, and just answering exactly the question that was asked, without going into biological speculation.

I'd make the teacher aware that your child sometimes receives comments like "Did you eat too much sugar?" and ask her to keep an ear out for that. You don't want your child 'othered' by his condition.

Bookish88 · 05/09/2023 16:51

You're obviously very sensitive about this, but it seems pretty obvious the teacher was responding to a question about whether it was something they could catch.

Sidslaw · 05/09/2023 16:53

It is inherited though, that is how most people get it

WhichEllie · 05/09/2023 16:53

So the boy asked if your son ate too much sugar and the teacher corrected him. The boy then asked if anyone could get type 1, probably either continuing his theme of wanting to know what your son “did” to have diabetes or wondering if it was contagious. The teacher again told him no. The teacher was right and it sounds like he handled the pesky questions from the boy pretty well.

ioveelephants · 05/09/2023 17:00

I know how you feel OP my daughter has just gone into year 9 and still gets these comments 🙄🙄 when she started primary the whole class was sat down and explained (mini science lesson) about type 1 diabetes which helped a lot and my daughter didn't get questioned about her medical condition by other kids. Now in high school she keeps her diabetes very private. The hospital have some great kid friendly books that explain diabetes maybe take some of them into the school. X

Primrosesanddaisies · 05/09/2023 17:03

Absolutely you should make sure that all teachers are aware and have a basic understanding. My son became T1 in Y8 (he's 20 now). He almost died in a classroom because he had a severe hypo and the teacher believed he couldn't eat sugar because he was diabetic. She tried to get him to inject insulin which would have finished him off. A PP has written that T1 requires a very careful diet which it does not so even those who think they know, don't really!
You don't need to be heavy handed but perhaps your contact at your child's diabetic clinic could advise. They did education at my DS school so I think they are used to that kind of thing.

Primrosesanddaisies · 05/09/2023 17:04

No it isn't inherited.

Original poster
Misinformation · 05/09/2023 17:05

It is something that you can basically ‘catch’ and anyone can get it. They haven’t separated a gene that contributes to T1 if there is one so anyone can get it as they wouldn’t know they have a gene.

DS is 14 and he knows what he heard. He would not challenge a teacher unfortunately.

It is not known exactly what causes Type 1 but likely to do with the body’s reaction to a virus. Big increase in T1s since Covid according to DS’s diabetic team.

The teachers response did make DS feel
’othered’.

It is not inherited in the case of DS or any of the other DC in our local T1 group but go ahead stating it is.

This boy started the discussion by deliberately trying to wind up DS for his medical condition.

Why should the teacher protect his feelings by giving incorrect information and by doing so upsetting DSs, if that’s what she was doing?

OP posts:
Shinyandnew1 · 05/09/2023 17:06

It is something that you can basically ‘catch’

But you can’t catch it from someone else. It’s quite possible that’s what the other child/teacher meant.

Hellocatshome · 05/09/2023 17:10

Being able to 'catch' an illness implies it is contagious which diabetes isn't and I do think that is what the teacher was trying to tell the child.

Sidslaw · 05/09/2023 17:10

Primrosesanddaisies · 05/09/2023 17:04

No it isn't inherited.

Edited

It is inherited. If you don't inherit the vulnerability, you won't get it.

Primrosesanddaisies · 05/09/2023 17:13

Wrong. It is an autoimmune disease. Please don't speak with certainty when you clearly know next to nothing.

Sidslaw · 05/09/2023 17:14

Primrosesanddaisies · 05/09/2023 17:13

Wrong. It is an autoimmune disease. Please don't speak with certainty when you clearly know next to nothing.

It is an inherited autoimmune disease - I teach it!