Let me begin by saying that I do not parent a child with Type 1 diabetes. But my good friends, Jeff and Natalie Kolok, do. And over the past 4 years as our relationship has grown, I have become more acquainted with the disease. But more than becoming acquainted with the disease, I have become overwhelmed at the unceasing impact that the disease takes on the parents and siblings... I had simply no idea.

Truth to be told - I don't know how you do it. Physically - I don't know how you keep up a 24/7 watch to keep your children alive in the face of a lethal disease that doesn't take off a second. Mentally - I don't know how you gather and process all the necessary information from countless numbers of sources (meters, scales, labels, medical personnel). Emotionally - I don't know how you manage the high's and low's that seem to cycle every single day... even innumerable times throughout the same day.

I am a parent of two small children and I know firsthand that parenting is hard work. Doing it well requires humility, consistency, observant eyes, a flexible strategy, not to mention selfless, unconditional love. Parenting any child requires undivided attention. But parenting a child with Type 1 Diabetes requires all of these plus even more on almost every level: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

For that reason, I was honored (and a bit overwhelmed) when Jeff asked me to share our family's journey with the readers of Parenting Daibetic Kids. You see, for the past two years, we have been on a personal journey to simplify our lives, minimalize our personal possessions and remove as many distractions as possible from our home and life. We have used our story to inspire hundreds of thousands of typical families around the world to do the same.

During my conversations with Jeff about parenting, it became apparent that this simplified approach to life and possessions would greatly benefit the parent of a child with Type 1 diabetes. Consider this - The more essential things that are needed in our homes, the greater our need to remove the nonessentials. Parenting a child with Type 1 diabetes brings with it the necessity of storing countless essential things in your home: medical supplies, emergency supplies (like blizzard, flood, etc), insurance records, measuring and cooking tools, record books, logs and journals to record information and notes regarding insulin, dosages, foods, etc.

With the increased need for those essential things to remain sorted and accessible in your home, clutter can become a huge distraction and stress-builder. Clutter can quickly become a hidden drain on our time and energy. Too many material possessions complicate our lives to a greater degree than we ever give them credit. They drain our bank account, our energy, and our attention. They keep us from the ones we love and from living a life based on our values.

If you will invest the time to remove nonessential possessions from your home, you will never regret it. Removing the clutter will destress your life, help you keep a clear head, allow for greater organization, and provide opportunity for you to re-prioritize your life around your most important possession: your children.

To get started, consider these five simple, steps to begin decluttering your home.

                                                                                                                      

  1. Start small. For some, the idea of decluttering their entire home is enough to stop them before they even begin. Don't worry - nobody declutters their entire home all at once. Instead, you declutter your home one room at a time, one closet at a time, and one drawer at a time. If your child's diagnosis has been recent and you are sorting out how to make room for your new responsibilities as a parent, create an empty closet to store the new medical supplies, a filing system for medical records, and a cabinet in the kitchen for scales, new cookbooks, etc. Remove everything else from that space and dedicate it entirely to the health and well-being of your child. As you accomplish these small tasks, take a look around and appreciate how good it feels and looks. Use that appreciation to motivate you on to the next room or closet.
  2. Only keep what is useful, beautiful, or for emergencies. The minimalist mantra goes like this, "Keep nothing in your home that is not useful or beautiful." Wise parents add this caveat: "Or what is needed for an emergency." Most of us could remove 50% of the items in our home and never miss a beat. So get back to the basics. Whether decluttering your closets, your cupboards, your wardrobe, your cupboards, or junk drawer, keep only the things that are necessary, beautiful, or stored for emergencies. Everything else is just taking up space, energy, and attention. Sell it, give it, recycle it, or junk it. Then, use some of the new space to better organize your supplies, but leave the rest empty... it will feel like a breath of fresh air.
  3. Find a home for everything. Our family has just recently learned the importance of finding a home for everything. Adopt that philosophy. Find a set place for each of the possessions that you keep. It will make finding supplies in a pinch easier, it will make restocking easier, and it will make the tasks of cleaning, sorting, and organizing easier too.
  4. Change your spending habits. Once you have decluttered your house, refuse to fill it again with more stuff. Don't buy into the consumerist mentality that possessions will bring you joy. They never do. True joy is found in our relationships and in our significance - not in our possessions. If you do have disposable income, use it for as many memory-making experiences as possible... not for shiny things on sale at the department store.
  5. Simplify elsewhere. Simplicity brings balance, freedom, and joy. When we began to simplify our possessions, we began to ask the next question, "Where else in my life can I remove distraction and simply focus on the essential?" This idea of decluttering will begin to spill over into other areas of your life such as your goals, your commitments, and your words (just to name a few). Accomplishing this simplification of life will better equip you to care for and manage Type 1 diabetes. It will put you in a better state of mind as a parent to help your child push off the physical complications from the disease.

Removing the excess amount of possessions in your home will benefit your checkbook. It will benefit your son and/or daughter. It will benefit you by destressing your life. As a parent of a child with Type 1 diabetes your stress level means the difference between life and death... and there is nothing in your home worth that.

Joshua and Kim Becker live in Vermont and raise their two young children. He blogs regularly at Becoming Minimalist and just released an ebook titled: Simplify. 7 Guiding Principles to Help Anyone Declutter Their Home and Life, which is a perfect beginner's guide to the principles of minimalism.