Young son always forgets to tell us where he's at!

[AlltheLegos]

My 8 year old son has a real problem with remembering to tell us where he's at when he's out playing with friends. If he switches homes, or if the friend he went looking for isn't home, he's supposed to come back to tell us where he's going next. We used to allow him to have the grown up text us to avoid walking home over and over, but even that he couldn't remember (or sometimes he said he did, but the grownup didn't follow through). He was literally just on restriction 2 days ago for this infraction, and yet here I sit again with no idea where my kid ended up. It's scary, frustrating, maddening, embarassing...and so much more. I gave up a long time ago on getting him to come home at a particular time, because he couldn't remember that either, so I need to at least know where he's at.

What do we do???

[MomOfSuperheroes]

My 7.5-year-old has this type of challenge, too, and I figure it must be super common for children learning to navigate ADHD. I happen to live in a fantastic neighborhood, and the neighbors keep an extra close eye on my son, which helps. I try to do the same for their little ones; we have an active little group text.Routine/habit is hard to develop, but it's helped us overcome some of our son's distractibility/forgetfulness. His therapist has us reinforce new desired behaviors with a reward system. He gets a sticker on his chart when he does the good thing, and he can trade in his earnings for rewards. He may try to milk the system, at times, but since that's still reinforcing the behavior we don't mind. Maybe something like that would help?

As for a "time" to head home, my son wears a wrist watch that we set with alarms. Works like a charm!

I hope you find something that works for your family to give you all some peace of mind.

[Olddognewtricks]

First, I applaud you for allowing your son the freedom to go out and play on his own like I did in my childhood in the ‘70’s. Kids learn so much. There are wrist watches or bands that have timers. If an alarm was set for every so often, then he could ask the adult to text or call you.He could earn points for how many times in a day he remembered to do this. He could earn a reward each day he earned a certain number of points.

[anirush]

Hopefully you know the friends parents well. Could you talk to them and have them ask your son when he shows up :Do your parents know you are here? You can stay if you tell them. "

[AlltheLegos]

We have a great community, and they’ve helped me find my son on more than one occasion. Everyone looks out for everyone else’s kids, which I love. It’s just frustrating when I have to go looking, not to mention if there were an emergency, I’d want to be able to get him on a moment’s notice.

A watch with an alarm is a good idea to try. And I’ve started reminding him every single time he goes out about what he should do. It’s gonna get old real fast, lol, but hopefully it helps.

[IheartDisney]

We also like the TicTalk4 which is like a smart watch but for kids. This way my son can call us without needing a phone and it has gps tracking so I know where he is at all times. Ot has really put my mind at ease being able to contact him. I can also set up alarms and reminders.