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Attention to children’s and adolescents’ knowledge is developing both in heath policy and in families. The social sciences now readily take into account children’s points of view, while underlining that they are constructed in and by social structures. This article describes knowledge acquired by children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes, living in the Grand-Est and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regions. The control and management of this chronic illness requires both expert knowledge (reading, writing and calculating glycaemia) and practical knowledge based on the experience, perception, understanding and expression of sensations. Research shows this knowledge to form a whole and highlights the active role of children and adolescents in its construction and the place of the family in its learning and legitimation.