My son can be the same way. I try to warn him, we are leaving in 10 min, then 5, then 2. For him it seams to be the exact moment of transition, and once we are in the new place it is fine. When he was a baby and in day care, the first 1.5 hours or so after I picked him up were horrible. Same thing now after school or the club.
thanks Kimber26 for the suggestions--we are going to try that out the night before and see if it helps a bit! Big time even with warnings of "we have to leave in 10 minutes" it helps but still hard.Does anyone else have this with their kids? Our 9 year old daughter not only has a hard time w/any vacation we ever go on, even if we talk about it for nearly a year before hand, but then has a really tough time when we return back--lack of sleep, cranky, irritable, and argumentative. It is so irritating that we have talked about not taking her anymore!Difficult transitions seem to be the norm. Your daughter seems a bit intense in that area. ADHD kids thrive on the normal routine and find comfort and stability in a schedule and routine that is consistent. If there is a change in the order we do things, it's all ploof in the air. From school year to school year, the transitions are hard, for example. Lots of big changes, and things to get used to.
I think, with your vacations if she has a hard time, if there is a way you can keep as close to your normal schedule and routine as possible, that would help. Keeping the same bedtimes and mealtimes. This helps us on a trips. Something has to be the same, or theyr'e gonna loose it, and you can't get around it. It most often gets better as they grow older. Gosh, you need to go on family trips!
that's pretty much exactly our situation--she makes it so tough that no one has a good time! That said, I have seriously threatened her with having to stay behind on weekend trips, which happen maybe twice a year. The big trip we take every year to the beach,I couldn't possibly leave her behind. I am going to try keeping her on a better schedule while we're there, and talking to her about the next day's schedule and see if it works.Our whole family loves to travel, so it is really a downer that she is having such a tough time.My son is the same way-he gets really excited to go on our trips (camping, amusement park or to the lake) he seems to be the most excited. When we get there he seems ok but then gradually he goes down hill. Becomes edgy, emotional and unreasonable.
When we get home he is all out of wack for a few days-then back to normal (whatever that it).
I swore after this last camping trip I would never take him on another vacation again! But realisitcally.......................how do I leave only him behind? I swear I'd rather just not go anywhere to avoid the drama.
She is great with everything overall, new friends, school, changes in schedule, except vacation. Also, she's fine going on vacation (i.e. packing by herself, helping with her little sisters in the airport, etc) but once we get whererver we're going, she has a tough time, and once we get back home, she has a tough time. Time change problems maybe? My 22 year old went to NH from Wisconsin, not a far trip--not a big time change. She swears it screwed her body up for a week!Does she just have transitioning problems with vacations or little things too, like raging when she has to stop watching TV to do something else? Any other odd symptoms?