Going out safely?

Can anyone give me any ideas on how I can gain confidence in taking my son out in public without being in constant fear of him disapearing! Josh is Five and has concentration and impulsive and obsessive behaviour, they are assessing him at the moment and A.D.H.D looks like the most probable condition that matches his behaviour, my problem is I dont want to have to put a wrist strap on him now he is five for his self esteem and not to draw any more attention to ourselves than we already get,This then results in me not being able to take my eye off him for a second as he like any child obviously finds shopping boring but just 10 x worse.He cant even concentrate if we are buying for him, instead even the pattern on the floor can interest him more so he follows that and before you know it he is out of sight. please please can any of you give me some pionters on what to do, because at the moment I just cant go to the local shops unless my husband is around so he can watch aswell and what is the fun in spending his money if he can see what your spending it on!! lol

maybe it would help to start with outings where you dont have anything to achieve, so that you aren't having to concentrate on things needing buying etc.

perhaps walks to the park, or taking a walk round the supermarket at a quiet time and only buying one thing, maybe he could help to look for it?

sorry, thats the best ive got!!

good luck, hope it gets easier!

thats great,all these things i am willing to take on bored, thanks for your coments.

Thats a hard one. If you're in the supermarket, could he push the trolley, or help to push it? That way you'd know exactly where he was.

We do try this but if he is very hyper then we get loads of accidents, we pull as he pushes and it does work at times but supermarkets give him so much stimulation that he forgets the trolley most of the time and runs off. lol thanks for the advice though!!

agree that the trips out with nothing essential to do sound the best idea. Then theres no pressure to do anything otherthan watch him.

I have no experience of ADHD but perhaps there is a website, support group or forum which can suggest good places to go.

Best of luck and do try and get i bet it drives you mad being stuck in all the time.
Gemma

Hey, me again, not so much with advice but a suggestion. I realised you only live half an hour from me, and im sure we have a few other bods floating about in the same general area! Perhaps arranging a day out one weekend, to somewhere very child friendly. Would take the pressure off you. My son can be a nightmare so to an extent i do know how you feel! I know that my son really reacts to other children, if he sees them being good he likes to do the same, now he behaves himself 90% of the time! Maybe your son might benefit from being with lots of children out of a school setting?

Just an iccle thought! x

That sounds really great idea, especially as the summer is comming may be we could set up a once a month thing where we can all meet up to chat and socialise our kids, I like this idea very much,I will chat to the hubby and see what ideas we can come up with!