Planning your vacations with a child with ADHD
Planning your vacations with a child with ADHD
By Valeria Vilar, MA, BEd, LMHC
We all look forward with great eagerness to our family vacation. Some families plan trips to new destinations, others choose a quiet destination to relax, or end up choosing to visit their family or home country.
This eagerness associated to vacation time is generally linked to the desire of having a great time and storing happy memories of the time spent with the loved ones forever.
We all know that every new situation, regardless of how pleasant, generates stress both in adults and children. This is especially true for children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
I have often heard my patients or friends talking about their vacations with a hint of disappointment. Some said that their children had behaved worse than they usually do during the year. For instance, they complained about their children being much more anxious, annoying other members of the family, consistently disobeying, being disrespectful to their parents, being rude, etc.
These behaviors caused conflicts, arguments and unpleasant situations among parents and siblings, and of course, generated a great deal of frustration and disappointment.
I thought it would be useful to draw on these experiences to give you a couple of tips that would help prevent this kind of situations.
- Let your child know about the type of trip you are planning. It is not a good idea to surprise your child with the trip without having given him or her time to elaborate on it in advance. Mark the date of the trip on a calendar and daily check with your child the number of days left before the trip. Show your child the place you will be visiting on a map. Talk to him or her about the people you will meet, what the weather will be like there, the activities you are planning on doing, etc. In this way, you and your child can create a guidebook with drawings and pictures. This will make your child feel at ease since he won’t be dealing with surprises.
I sincerely wish you enjoy your next vacation with your child with ADHD, and that these happy moments remain in your family’s memories forever.
Valeria Vilar, MA, BEd, LMHC, is the Clinical Director of Open Mind Psychotherapy & Wellness Center. The center is located at the Weston Town Center since 1998. They work with individuals, children, adolescents, adults, couples and families. Additional information, can be reached at (954) 385-9550, and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by visiting www.openmind.cc