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Hi!  I am writing because our regional Celiac Support Group has asked if I
would develop a handout for parents whose children are newly diagnosed with
Celiac Disease.  My only qualification for doing this is that I am the mother
of an almost 12 year old daughter who was diagnosed with CD on her 8th
birthday.  During our four years of living with a child who has CD we have
sought information from lots of different sources in order to understand her
unique struggles and how to constructively deal with them.  However,  I would
REALLY like to hear from other parents about what advice was/would have been
helpful to you at the time of your child's initial diagnosis.  I will pass
that information along to those parents with newly diagnosed children in the
spirit of "Celiacs helping Celiacs".

The following are some questions that I would appreciate your thoughts on, but
I am open to any comments that you think would be helpful to parents with
newly diagnosed children:   What are issues for parents of preschoolers?  How
do you handle food served at daycare/preschool/birthday parties/places of
worship?  How do you handle birthday parties or class parties for holidays at
school?  Do you give a handout on CD to your child's teacher at the start of
the school year and if so what does it say?  Does anyone have snack ideas that
are easy to prepare -- or not so easy but worth the effort?   This diet can be
quite expensive, does anyone have some money saving tips?  What foods do you
take along when travelling?  For those with pre-adolescent or teenage
children, what are some of the issues those of us with younger children should
anticipate?  What about handling the emotional reaction?  We found that not
only our daughter had a period of expressing grief and anger - in a typically
8 year old way - but that my husband and I also had some of those same
feelings as we adjusted to this new way of life.  What tips do you have for
handling that emotional reaction?  What do you say to your child's teachers
and friends about this?  How do you help your child's friends, and friends
parents, understand what this diet is about and what it means in terms of
socializing?  Has anyone successfully sent their child to an overnight camp?
How did you set up the experience for success?  And then there is the eating
out issue!  How do you handle that?

I appreciate any help you can give.  I will summarize all responses and post
them to the list. Thanks!

Leigh