We know people living with type 1 diabetes have a mobile phone to help them navigate their diabetes, so it is important that your child/teenager living with T1D and you are on the same page with smart phone use and rules.
To help you set some family rules, we asked the PCH Diabetes Service Social Work team for their top tips to manage phone use at home and school.
- Ensure the school is aware of your child /teen’s need to use the phone for diabetes daily care, ensure your child /teen feel supported by the school and teachers.
- Have an agreement of how you as a parent and you child/ teen want to communicate about Diabetes (is it texting or calling each other? ). Check your child/teen feels positively supported by your communication.
- Ensure your child/teen know they are to ask for permission before downloading anything. This keeps the phone safe from unwanted cyber abuse
- Feel confident as a parent to set phone time limits on apps (other than diabetes apps) to ensure to child/ teen has healthy breaks from technology, family meals without phones at the table and technology off at night time (except the diabetes apps) to enable good sleep routine.
For more information on Cyber Safety:
Cyber safety - Department of Education
Cyberbullying and the back-to-school surge: How we can protect our kids | eSafety Commissioner