When your child is diagnosed with diabetes, it is almost impossible to resist the temptation to put your child in a safe bubble and tell the world to go away. You feel the unfairness of it, probably more than your child ever will. For you, it doesn’t matter that some 200,000 children in the U.S. live with type 1 diabetes. Only one child matters. Yours.

Although you know there is no cure for type 1 diabetes, you will read every medical article and piece of new research in the hope of uncovering one. You also will be tempted to do everything for your child, including:

• Counting carbs
• Calculating doses
• Managing finger pricks
• Injecting insulin
• Packing emergency snacks

These are the tools you need to teach your child to help ensure a healthy life. There will be times when you’re not around to take care of these things, and one day, your child will leave the nest.

The greatest gift you can give your child comes not from helicoptering and hovering, but from teaching independence and responsible disease management. That’s how you empower children and set them on the road to good health.