Wandering off--extreme curiosity | ADHD Information

My 6 year old DS with ADHD gave us a scare before Christmas. He was outside in our fenced backyard playing before dinner. Basically burning off some steam as his meds had worn off. He has been very curious about exploring beyond our fence, but he knows he isn't allowed to climb it. Well his soccer ball went over the fence, he came inside to ask if he could get it and was proud that he was following the rules. We gave him permission to climb the fence. Well he didn't come back....By the time we noticed he was not in the yard anymore, he was out of sight and it was starting to get dark. To make a long story short, we called the police and the whole neightborhood was looking for him. The police finally found him 2 miles away from home. He was "exploring" his bus route to school!

Have any of you had your child wander off before? DS seems to understand what he did was wrong and I don't think he will do it again, but he can be so impulsive and curious at times. We have taken him out to explore with us numerous times, making the point that if he wants to explore, he just needs to ask and have either mom or dad come with him. We have thought about buying one of those child tracking devices that will alarm us if he goes beyond a specified radius from our house. I'm scared to have him play out back anymore now because he can climb our fence and I just don't trust him now.

I'm glad you found him unharmed.  Hopefully he won't do it again but I also deal with one of my children that does similar things like that, although she hasn't gone that far before.  My 7 1/2 DD has NOT been diagnosed with anything but I see the exact same traits in her as I did my DS (14) when he was her age.  He was diagnosed with ADHD in 5th grade.  She is very impulsive and will just go towards something she wants to look at, etc.

We went to Washington DC this past week and she  wandered off near the World War II memorial and the Washington Monument.  Not to mention it was only 20 degrees at the time.  She also started wandering while we were in the Smithsonian and by then I had had enough.  It's hard enough to keep track of her when it's just us but I also had my 4 year old, 9 year old and 14 year old, as well as 20 family members to stay with.  We left shortly after.

Impulsivity is a hallmark trait of ADHD. These children are in the moment, never giving a thought to the dangers or consequeces that might lie ahead. They get an idea and just act on it (off medication) These chidlren have no problem processing information and they clearly understand right from wrong but the thought process is not "ready, aim..fire, its aim....fire. I can totally understand and relate to your fears. Unfortunately, off medication you have to keep a constant watchful eye.